This Week in Reviews

[Guild McCommunist]

I decided to, out of boredom, start a weekly segment called "This Week in Reviews", highlighting all the reviews from major reviewers for the Wii and DS. I'll continue this if the people here like it, so comment!

Goldeneye 007 (Wii)

Guild's Take: The new 007 game sure as hell didn't give much fanservice to fans of the N64 classic, but what it did do was give a decent campaign and was still able to retain a "fun" aspect (compared to the "addictive" aspect that many FPS games go for nowadays) for an overall enjoyable experience. Strong local and online multiplayer helps too.

The Scores:
+IGN: 9.0/10
+Gamespot: 8.5/10
+1UP: B+ (or 8.3/10)
+Nintendolife: 8/10
+GameSpy: 8/10
+Eurogamer: 7/10

Metascore: 81%

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II (Wii)

Guild's Take: Surprisingly, the Wii version has faired much better compared to it's HD counterparts, receiving an overall Metascore that's roughly 9 or 10% higher than the HD versions. Praised for better combat and an exciting multiplayer mode, this seems to be an oddball occurrence where the "downgraded Wii version" is actually the best to play with.

The Scores
+Nintendo Power: 8/10
+IGN: 7.5/10
+Gamespot: 7.5/10
+Official Nintendo Magazine UK: 6.7/10

Metascore: 75%

PokePark Wii: Pikachu's Big Adventure (Wii)

Guild's Take: Like most Pokemon spin-offs, PPW: PBA didn't get a huge sweeping reception, with reviewers mostly mixed. Some say it's one of the few Pokemon games that may be worth owning on the Wii and others think it's another mediocre spinoff that caters to the hardest of hardcore Pokemon fanatics. But you're all filthy pirates like myself so you can decide which side you take for yourself.

The Scores
+IGN: 7.5/10
+Nintendo Power: 7.5/10
+Official Nintendo Magazine UK: 6.4/10
+Gamespot: 5.5/10
+Nintendolife: 4/10

Metascore: 59%

Special: Kinect Round-up

Every now and then I'll be doing "specials" for non-Wii/DS reviews. This time it's the Kinect, since it is a major (and recent) peripheral launch.

Guild's Take: Never being a fan of Kinect from it's inception, I can't say I've been optimistic for the launch of it. Metascores of all it's launch titles are relatively weak compared to some other platform launches, with the highest ones scoring in the mid 80's range. However, we've seen games with absolutely terrible scores sell well over a million copies (like Just Dance) and games with high scores (like MadWorld or Dead Space Extraction) bomb at retail. Only time will tell if the Kinect is a success.

The Metascores
+Fighters Uncaged: 39%
+Sonic Free Riders: 59%
+Your Shape: Fitness Evolved: 70%
+Dance Central: 84%
+Kinect Adventures: 66%!
+Kinectimals: 77%
+Kinect Joy Ride: 54%

Average: 65.5%

A rough launch for Kinect titles.

GBAtemp Reviews

I'll also be listing GBAtemp user reviews from the week in an effort to draw more comment to user reviews. Don't be surprised to see me pop up now and then.

+My Goldeneye 007 Review
+SublimnalSegue's Goldeneye 007 Review
+CarbonX13's Monopoly Streets Review
+SubliminalSegue's Kirby's Epic Yarn Review
+haddad's M3i Zero Video Review

Any problems that wouldn't be worth posting here? Send me a PM and we'll discuss the issue.

 

[shakirmoledina]

i agree golden eye doesnt have anything to get bored of but the kinect seems to be much lesser than i expected... i heard it has noticeable lag

 

[Sterling]

Gah, great idea Guild!! I guess I need to review more games.

 

[p1ngpong]

Nice round up Guildy, I like this idea.

 

[Guild McCommunist]

Nice round up Guildy, I like this idea.

Thanks, I'll try to keep up with this.

But mostly I have to ask why you're tearing me apart, p1ngy.

For the last time, I did not heet her. I did nawt.

I'll be posting 1,000 The Room references now that you've got that profile picture.

 

[ACDCGAMER]

Very interesting, man! I really like the idea a lot!

 

[Scott-105]

One of my friends bought Kinect, and he loves it. Ha ha, Guild, you should get it, because honestly, this guy says everything is awesome. Your reviews are much better than his.

 

[GundamXXX]

TFU2 sucked, havent played teh Wii version and Im not going to either because the PC version sucked!

Will try the new 007 though

 

[Guild McCommunist]

TFU2 sucked, havent played teh Wii version and Im not going to either because the PC version sucked!

Will try the new 007 though

Well apparently the Wii version has a very awesome multiplayer mode. Enough so to give it a 10% difference over the other versions. Controls are a lot better than the first game too, although it can be a bit repetitive and things don't seem to chain together as well.

 

[KingdomBlade]

How are you still not a Mag Staffer?

Great idea.

The highest game in Kinect is a dance game? That was actually sort of to be expected.

 

[Bladexdsl]

hehehe i knew kinect was gonna crash and burn

 

[GundamXXX]

TFU2 sucked, havent played teh Wii version and Im not going to either because the PC version sucked!

Will try the new 007 though

Well apparently the Wii version has a very awesome multiplayer mode. Enough so to give it a 10% difference over the other versions. Controls are a lot better than the first game too, although it can be a bit repetitive and things don't seem to chain together as well.

Might give it a go, illl 'test' it first though >_>