Mushimesama review by Edge

[ill6]

So they review the PS2 version despite the fact that the Arcade version has been playing since release in at least 2 arcades in the UK.

They claim to cover coinops but this is just a bullshit lie.

Anyway. They gave it a 7. They said that it prooved that there was life in the Shooter genre but that Cave was not yet delivering the goods (something like that anyway).

[icycalm]

sounds like a cop-out

but i guess in depends on how well they explained their reasons

[DEL]

ill6 - As you say, the Mush coinops have been in the London arcades since late last year. YET EDGE HAVE BEEN UNAWARE OF THE FACT. - so they claim to be a coinop magazine as well as console - Yeah Right!

I've always assumed that EDGE is a UK publication, but they are unaware of their own arcades. This shows you the kind of reviewer that they employ, as well as their bias.

[Sabreman]

The basic gist of the review is that Cave are doing a sterling job of helping keep the shmup genre alive, but generally only to a hardcore section of the gaming community. I thought the review was very fair - it's true but whether that's a good or bad thing depends on whether you believe all games should be accessible to everyone, or whether certain subgenres should cater for their particular audience and little else..

They cover the coin-op market in news and features, but tend not to review arcade machines (they haven't for a few years).

[Ord]

A 7 from EDGE is a bloody good score as they are harsh in their reviews (compared to other mags). In all truth I would probably go for the same score. They reviewed Dodnpachi Dai-Ou-Jou ( 8 ) and Espgaluda ( 8 ) and I guess Mushihimesamma deserves at least one point off from that as it is a poor conversion compared to the previous Cave duo of games. No low-res, No superplay DVD, No replay save etc.
I also find the bosses (apart from stage 3) to be a bit lackluster, compared to previous Cave games, but that's just me.
Nah, a 7 is a great score from EDGE and I applaude the fact that they even bothered to review it.

[icycalm]

I applaude the fact that they even bothered to review it.

That's very true, actually.

[Naiera]

I agree with Ord. A 7 is a good score, even though Edge do seem to have been slacking off and given games scores that were a BIT too high these last few years.

I've given Mushihime-sama the same score in a system based on Edge's "old system". It's not a bad score. I've never given a Cave game a score higher than 8.

[Turrican]

they did give Gradius V a 9, right?

[pixelcorps]

man. you guys are never satisfied, edge is at least not filled with bullshit ads , and sat in the pockets of the advertisers.

they've covered IBARA a few months ago and at least they review shooters with a correct context as opposed to OMFG! i continued through to the end in 20 mins!!!

STOP WHINING!!!

[neojma]

at least they review shooters with a correct context as opposed to OMFG! i continued through to the end in 20 mins!!!

Amen.

And wasn't it Edge that just run that great interview with Triangle/Milestone/G.Rev a couple months ago? Give them some credit. They may not give you an in-depth spread on every new arcade shooter, but I'd rather have sensible reviews of some releases than what we get in, oh, ANY American magazine.

If you want whining elitism, you're already in the right place - the Shmups forum. I'm personally very happy indeed to not have to read the cookie cutter bitching about "dead genre from the 80s", 2D graphics, too short, etc.

Now I'll get back to stewing about everyone whining about Metal Slug 6 having "the same old crappy graphics". Never mind that they have switchable weapons and two FANTASTIC new character additions in Ralf and Clark. People are just going to complain about old looking sprites and the fact that they got through the game in an hour.

[brokendivide]

Seeing as it's not specifically a shmup or even arcade based magazine, surely it's no bad thing they're providing exposure for these games (even better that it's positive exposure)? Perhaps result in a handful more people playing shmups, little more money for developers, few more shmups all round, everyone wins. More realistically though, it's just nice to see they're being paid attention to.

Many magazines seem to ignore the fact that 5 (or 50%) is average. Mushi is well above average, though not groundbreaking, so I think 7 is a perfectly reasonable score, by edge standards or otherwise.

[Specineff]

Maybe because some of us are used to the fact that 5=failed in school? In Mexico, you are graded on a 1-10 score in school. 5.9 is not enough to get to the next grade. You need a 6.0 or higher.

[Kiken]

Now I'll get back to stewing about everyone whining about Metal Slug 6 having "the same old crappy graphics". Never mind that they have switchable weapons and two FANTASTIC new character additions in Ralf and Clark. People are just going to complain about old looking sprites and the fact that they got through the game in an hour.

No, the only complaining here about Metal Slug 6 is that Fio looks like a guy in her character-select portrate.

Now, back on topic... would someone be kind enough to list all of the confirmed UK arcades that currently have Mushihime-sama?

[DEL]

Kiken - Just the London Electrocoin owned arcades have it. Namely; Casino Arcade at Goodge St and Las Vegas Arcade opposite Angel tube Station. Casino since last November, Las Vegas since early summer. - I'm surprised you're asking, are you planning a trip to the UK?

neojma - As for whining. Nope, I wasn't. I was merely pointing out that UK reviewers have not needed to go to Japan to review the coinop. It was on their doorstep since late last year. Yet they were unaware - (not being arcade-goers themselves).
.
.
Alright alright, I was moaning a bit


Cheers,

DEL

[system11]

Edge suck.

Just as easy to buy good scores from as with most other mags, just as likely to ride the hypewagon. The journalistic qualities can be .. dubious too. I know someone who was interviewed for an article a little while ago - he said they basically changed what he'd been saying.

[freddiebamboo]

I can understand the critisisms given to edge here with not reviewing mushi earlier, but the fact is that no one else is even willing to acknowledge the game far less review it and give it a decent score.

As for miss-quoting as bloodflowers said, unfortunately thats the media for you - and they'll never change, even if they are one of the more respectable magazines

Disappointing though

[Naiera]

Maybe because some of us are used to the fact that 5=failed in school? In Mexico, you are graded on a 1-10 score in school. 5.9 is not enough to get to the next grade. You need a 6.0 or higher.

That's a problem for said school system's grading system and not the fact that 5 DOES equal average.

[laurie47]

Just bought it today, Im not a fan of edge and its pomposity's but the review is pretty good. They seem to have put some research into the game, they mention the 20 rapid settings and the reko figure. Its only a page but its in an English multi-format mainstream magazine. A lot of 12 year olds would have never heard of mushi if not for this. Is good thing.

[ill6]

So my thinking that the article is not such a good thing needs some explaining...

Edge are the self proclaimed experts on everything videogame related. They include Coin Op on the cover as if they cover this with the same level of expertise and interest.

In reality the arcade scene is never covered beyond the odd preview (even when the games are easily playable in the London)... My feeling is that Edge should either take Coin Op off the cover or actually start covering (modern) coin ops seriously.

I know this was a PS2 review but there you go.

[pixelcorps]

So my thinking that the article is not such a good thing needs some explaining...

Edge are the self proclaimed experts on everything videogame related. They include Coin Op on the cover as if they cover this with the same level of expertise and interest.

In reality the arcade scene is never covered beyond the odd preview (even when the games are easily playable in the London)... My feeling is that Edge should either take Coin Op off the cover or actually start covering (modern) coin ops seriously.

I know this was a PS2 review but there you go.

as opposed to EGM or some other ad saturated bullshit mag slagging off shooters??

edge DO cover stuff like AOU and JAMMA..

what other western magazine intelligently covers such things??

where did the treasure typeX info come from?? EDGE...

seriously, some of you kids are never satisfied...

[Ord]

so true man, so true. In that issue alone there is an interview with Tresure, regarding Gunstar Super heroes and they ask about a possible sequel to Ikaruga/Radiant Silvergun ( their response was printed in another thread.) What other mag would even interview Treasure? That's right.........NONE!
Sure maybe they should remove "arcade" from their list of mentioned formats on the cover, then maybe again why should they? They report the cutting "EDGE" of gaming and sometimes that comes within the arcade gaming scene,(see the Lihinenbergh (SP?) hardware by sega).
I can't see for ANY reason why a mag that deals with cutting edge gaming within the entire country (UK) should go into in depth reviews and stuff over a game that's played on an old electocoin cab in an old London arcade where the player controls are a bit fucked.

[incognoscente]

Lihinenbergh (SP?)

Lindbergh
:)

[Danny]

Edge is a highly respected mag over here in tbe UK and normaly are an authority on how good or bad a game really is and they have been review games for many years, in fact the Edge team are in fact the old Gamesmaster team before it went all kiddie and mainstream.

As some people mentioned on this thred before, you're lucky a magazine even bothered to review this game, I doubt the offical playstation magazine would of even bothered reviewing this game or if they did it would be about a paragraph big at the most. The only real alternative is the GAMEStm magazine and although they are normaly very good and do cover a lot of arcade (and retro) stuff but sometimes they do get the info wrong but on the whole they do apreacate(?) there "old school" gaming.

[DEL]

Ord wrote:

I can't see for ANY reason why a mag that deals with cutting edge gaming within the entire country (UK) should go into in depth reviews and stuff over a game that's played on an old electocoin cab in an old London arcade where the player controls are a bit fucked.

Hold on Ord, the Mush PCB was just as brand new in Electrocoin last year as it was in the Japanese arcades (within the first few weeks of the PCB release).
As for the controls, you might have missed the click-stick thread, but I had the 1 Player side re-vamped with a new joystick and rigged up an autofire circuit for A+ and C+. As a result, my Original Mode one life clear and Ultra Mode scores are from; "an old electocoin cab in an old London arcade where the player controls are a bit fucked".

And not from the PS2 version.


AND YES I'M OLD

-------------------------------------------------------------------

As for Edge magazine; they did do a page on Mush when the PCB was released last year and I do salute them for reviewing the Jap PS2 Port, which is more than other magazines would be prepared to do.

So, I'm not Edge bashing. My previous comments on this thread come from my "Arcade Bias", that's all.

[Ord]

^^ Hey! COMPLETELY disregard that post I made a few days ago, I was blinding drunk!
Oh and I am old too!

[DEL]

Absolutely no worries Ord

Cheers,

DEL

[DEL]

With reference to intstalling autofire circuits into arcade cabinets;

EDGE Magazine wrote;

“Home challengers will now be able to play without cracking open cabinets in their local arcades”

WHOA

How did Edge know about such things?

The only people to have ‘cracked open Mush cabs to fit autofire circuits’ are Japanese Arcade Players and a fool called DEL .

Edge also mentioned the

“contentious autofire issue when playing for score.”

This all leads to the fact that Edge have done their Internet/click-stick homework. Throughout the past year, if you put the word ‘Mushihimesama’ into Google, the 1st search result would have been click-stick’s BBS forum.

So, they may not have been down their ‘local arcade’, but they are aware of what has been going on there.

The only other option is that Edge did their research on a Japanese forum, which I highly doubt.

[Ord]

It's another reason why I think EDGE are fab!

[ST Dragon]

I remember Edge criticizing the Saturn's Hardware weaknesses compared to the PSX back in the day.

[highlandcattle]

I remember Edge criticizing the Saturn's Hardware weaknesses compared to the PSX back in the day.

so? they were right