Your opinion of Skyward Sword's controls were very different than those of other reviewers. Why is that? What is your opinion of motion control in general?
As anyone who has followed me should know, controls are the single most important element of a game to me. If they aren't responsive all the time, I get frustrated, because it's a problem that could have been averted had the developers been more conscious of the experience they were creating. In the case of Skyward Sword, the controls function as they should most of the time, but that's not enough. When I swing and it doesn't register, or I point toward the screen but Link looks at the ground, I get angry. Nintendo usually sets the standard for controls, so I'm shocked they would release a game in this state.
Okay, I'm really not sure where to start here. He firstly says that the controls are mostly good, which goes against his earlier comments, and is just odd when he goes on to say they are appalling. Then he states that when he swings the game doesn't register it. In his initial review he claimed that he was waggling the remote, which explains why the controls aren't responding.
Furthermore, he says that when he points his remote at the screen, Link looks towards the ground. He says that's annoying, but doesn't realize what exactly is going on. As I have confirmed with our staff who played Skyward Sword for the review and walkthrough content, none of the controls require you to point the remote at the screen. Now, where Tom speaks of Link looking at the ground pertains to item usage.
Whenever Tom gets out an item, he points his remote at the screen. Take the bow and arrow as an example. What you are supposed to do is point the Wii remote upwards (towards the roof), and pull your hand back like you are drawing a bow. Using logic, you can determine that if you point the remote at the screen in these circumstances, of course Link will look towards the ground. GameSpot's reviewer is stuck in the days in Twilight Princess. He uses waggling and pointing, instead of one-to-one actions.
This interview does nothing but confirm that he is playing the game wrong. Of course Nintendo wouldn't release a game in such a poor state. If the controls were as poor as Tom was claiming Nintendo would not have used them. Tom doesn't comprehend the precision of Motion Plus, and instead resorts to waggling and pointing. No wonder he had a bad time with the game.
You made an error in your review regarding the game's controls (which has since been amended by the time of this writing). Do you think that an error like that might unintentionally affect your opinion (and therefore the review) of the game?
Not at all. In my original text, I said that aiming was handled by the infared sensor, when it's actually controlled by the gyroscopes. Ultimately, you point at the screen no matter which method the controller is using, so, for the player, the result is the same. My problem with the aiming is that you have to recenter your view often, and that's true no matter what the underlying technology is.
Firstly, he is denying that he's playing the game wrong, but then goes on to show no comprehension of Skyward Sword at all. As RawmeatCowboy of GoNintendo and our own staff can attest to, there is no need to point your remote at the screen. We really have no idea what he is on about. The only method of control is gyro controls, not pointer. No-one is at all able to make out what he is referring to by recentering his view. Perhaps he means recalibration, but that's just a simple button push. None of our staff, or other sites for that matter, have any of the issues that Mr. Mc Shea does, and its ridiculously obvious that he is pointing the remote when he should be drawing it like a bow.
Can you change the score?
Nope!
Please?
Sorry
Not only is such a mistake as playing the game incorrectly entirely appalling for a professional, but his unwillingness to admit that he was wrong and how it affected his review is sickening. I really have no problem with someone giving Skyward Sword a 7.5 if they point out the valid things wrong with the game. However, everything Tom says about the controls can only lead us to one conclusion - he has no idea what's going on. Any credibility he had as a reviewer is clearly dead due to this ordeal. The only thing I'm left wondering is how Mr Mc Shea managed to make it through the game - assuming that he did. Just be sure you don't make the same embarrassing mistakes as you play Skyward Sword.
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