Supreme Cmdr Posted January 12, 2002 Report Posted January 12, 2002 The print mag is not out yet, but this post by Jeff caught my eye.I am looking forward to the CGW and CGM reviews with much anticipation. We already know that the graphics, sound and possibly the lack of mp are going to be an issue - but thats OK, XP1 should take care of the graphics+sound issues and the mp patch is inbound.
Guest Grayfox Posted January 12, 2002 Report Posted January 12, 2002 its funny how "kazz" and "brian" judge BCM on what BC3k WAS. for the love of pete quit whining and d/l the demo and try it. dont just judge the title on past performances. i played bc3K, and yes i had probs with it, but i also tried the demo of BCM and played it UNBIASLY, and fell in love with it. some people just kill me sometimes lol.jeff on the other hand seems like he knows what hes about and tells it pretty much like it is.
jefflackey Posted January 12, 2002 Report Posted January 12, 2002 There's no doubt that a lot of PR around a game or the developer can be either a huge boost, or more often, a huge yoke. Look at Daikatana. Now, I've chatted with Romero a lot in the past (he and I are huge Apple II buffs) but the worst thing in the world he could have done was bragged about his game so publically for so long. It just sets you up with a lot of folks who can't wait to see you fail. Now, in the case of Daikatana, the game was really bad - but I'm sure that most reviewers went into the review just chomping their bits, looking for something that would give them a chance to attack the game, and thus Romero. The same thing holds for books, movies, whatever - if the designer publically tells the world, for an extended time, how great his product is going to be, he's setting himself up for a lot of folks. That's just the way life is.There are a number of good writers out there, however, who write good reviews and do a good job of evaluating the product, putting aside the side issues (let's face it, 90% of the people who buy computer games see them for the first time at EB or Best Buy and don't have a clue about all this other stuff.) Even if I strongly disagree with their opinions, I respect their writing and I respect them (and I know them personally.) Tom Chick, Mark Asher, Bruce Geryk, Denny Atkiin, Raphael Libetore, Andy Mahood, Bill Abner, and I know I'm missing some. OTOH, there are some writers who are well known that I know for whom I have less respect (and I'm not gonna name them here.) But I'm sure there are a lot who feel the same way about me (the latter.) I really expected BCM to be pretty much a hack. I played the original BC 3000AD, before a lot of the patches, and since I wasn't reviewing it and my plate was full, I never saw it fully patched - thus my opinion was "great idea, poor execution." BCM has a couple of areas in which I think it could benefit from some additions/improvements, and I've mentioned those in email with Derek. If XP1 does all Derek hopes, it will cover most of the areas I think it could use some improvement. Personally, I'm still playing the game. But I wouldn't dream of recommending it to some people that I know - and I have highly recommended it to others. It's that kind of game.Cheers,Jeff Lackey
Supreme Cmdr Posted January 14, 2002 Author Report Posted January 14, 2002 I have to agree. In fact, I have friends who can't even play my games and when they ask me for a copy, I just autograph it and give it out with the usual warning about the type of game that it is.As for the media reviews, heh, I'm doing a soapbox about that right now. Should be published by Wednesday.
Kush Posted January 14, 2002 Report Posted January 14, 2002 Jeff:I agree. I've got friends who are addicted to Team Fortress, and CS. I won't approach them. I've got friends who love RTS's and space sims. I've got friends who have no idea that their video card has a driver, and I have friends who change drivers in their sleep.I know a couple of people who I could recommend the game to, and I will. And others I won't. I agree about Hype. I don't think Derek EVER hyped the game into something that it was not. I think he's been very clear that this game is for a very specific crowd, with very specific tastes. But the film world and the game development world are very different in some respects.This week is the first time I've had to really spend quality time with the game, and I have to say that I REALLY wish that other developers realized the potential in this kind of space sim. In the film world, an indie filmaker who uses 16mm, does practically everything by hand and sticks to their vision, are applauded. They are held up. They are often used as an example of what film should be.No one reviewing 'Momento' criticized it's lack of multi-million dollar lighting, or CG effects. No one mentioned that the sound was actually recorded on sub par equipment. And big budget films like 'Pearl Harbour' are eviscerated. And rightly so. In film you can get away with something a little rough around the edges as long as it presents a strong vision and is entertaining. The game world is really different.PS At least I finished Diakatana. I didn't finish Quake II. I couldn't. My GOD that was boring as HELL. 'Flip switch, kill enemies, find door. Rinse repeat.' The final patched version of Diakatana at least made everything work. For the most part.And once the sidekicks were working, they made me laugh on more than one occasion. It wasn't the second coming, but it had attitude, and humour. I would rather pluck my eyes out than finish Quake II.
Guest Grayfox Posted January 14, 2002 Report Posted January 14, 2002 Most of my friends are just like me... we try everything, and go with what we like. We all play CS, TFC, UT, just about every FPS ever made. we also play RTS alot, and we also MUDD. Strange lot i am with. They also know when i recommend something to them (which i have with BC3K and the BCM demo)to actually take time to try it. I even told them "make sure you READ the online manual and docs BEFORE playing so youre not calling me 10 mins later asking me what button does what". And bless me they did, and like i posted in an earlier thread, only 1 out of 10 decided it was too much and decided he couldnt hack it. As for the other 9??? well whenever they come over to my house they want to bogard my PC so they can play the full version of BCM lol. They love it... and these are hardcore, diehard FPS/RTS/RPG players we are talkin about here. but i digress... the local EB here seems to be temporarily sold out of them and wont recieve a fresh shipment till feb i think.otherwise there would be 9 new members i think. Just shows when people actually look at a product for what it is and set everything aside and look at it objectively
Menchise Posted February 17, 2002 Report Posted February 17, 2002 *Nick wonders what happened to the CGW review and the soapbox article*
Fractux Posted February 17, 2002 Report Posted February 17, 2002 I'm still trying to download that file you linked to on fileplanet SC ... heh... I want to see what it looks like. Only 919 people in front of me now.
Urza Posted February 17, 2002 Report Posted February 17, 2002 Heh, I just came to this thread for the first time, didn't look at the times, and thought it was new news. Then I got to the part in the forum that said something like "the 1.0.04 patch was just released", and it finally dawned on me. Whatever happened to the CGW review anyway? I was looking forward to reading it, as they do pretty good reviews.
Supreme Cmdr Posted February 17, 2002 Author Report Posted February 17, 2002 quote:Originally posted by Menchise: *Nick wonders what happened to the CGW review and the soapbox article*Maybe I had more important things to do? As for the CGW review, don't ask me. You have the email address for the editor, right? Good. Go ask him.
Menchise Posted February 18, 2002 Report Posted February 18, 2002 *Nick wonders why he didn't think of that*
Menchise Posted February 18, 2002 Report Posted February 18, 2002 It's not confirmed, but CGW's ETA is March 5.
jefflackey Posted February 25, 2002 Report Posted February 25, 2002 I'd be surprised if it didn't come out in the upcoming issue (April?) I turned it in back in middle January. I know I had a couple of reviews that I turned in a while back bumped back a month or two - they're always juggling the schedule. Jeff Lackey
jefflackey Posted February 25, 2002 Report Posted February 25, 2002 Oh yeah - it will be interesting to see if they keep the sub-heading that I used for the review title: Battlecruiser Millenium - In space, no one can hear you flame. Actually, I just went back and read the review. Man, it's REALLY hard to capture a game like BC in about 500 words. Try it yourself. As a comparison, when I write a review for Computer Games Magazine/Online, a one page review is about 700 words - a typical review for Gamespy is (looking at my SimGolf article...) about 1000 words.
Supreme Cmdr Posted February 25, 2002 Author Report Posted February 25, 2002 quote:Originally posted by Jeff Lackey: Battlecruiser Millenium - In space, no one can hear you flame. LMAO!! Somehow I doubt it. Then again, old man Jeff's at the helm; and anything can happen. quote:Actually, I just went back and read the review. Man, it's REALLY hard to capture a game like BC in about 500 words. Try it yourself. As a comparison, when I write a review for Computer Games Magazine/Online, a one page review is about 700 words - a typical review for Gamespy is (looking at my SimGolf article...) about 1000 words.hehe, tell me about it. But it depends. I guess CGW figures that there's only so many ways you can say it sux!! and if you can pan a sucky game's reviews over 500 words, well then. Anyway, as far as I know, print mags allocate review space based on the genre and popularity of the title. In fact, I got this first hand from a good contact of mine who is an editor. Recently I had the same discussion with Steve over at CGM. We were discussing the cover for BCM and the general consensus was that it was too much of a niche (read: its not mass market) and would seem foreign on the cover. Niche games don't sell mags. My, how times have changed. IIRC, previous BC titles graced the covers of every magazine, multiple times. And they wonder why we don't develop niche games anymore. There was a time when a game like Destroyer Command or Silent Hunter II, would be front cover. Now all the covers are either RPG, RTS or senseless FPS games. Oh well. [ 02-25-2002, 08:26: Message edited by: Supreme Cmdr ]
jefflackey Posted February 25, 2002 Report Posted February 25, 2002 Well, the way the mags work these days (at least CGM and CGW) is that they have a standard word count per page. Thus, the review I turned in recently to CGM for Flight Sim 2002 was about 700 words, 1 page, CGM's word count per page. CGW's used to be 650 words, then they made it about 600, and now they've decided to make the screen shots in the review larger, which takes up space, and thus the standard word count per page is 500 words. Way too small for most writers' liking. The only way you can get the word count up is if you can convince them to make it a two page review. Of course, they have a set number of pages per month, so if you get a 2 page review, that's one less 1 page review they can publish. When it's really tough is when they tell you at the last minute "hey, we're a little short this month, can you cut that review down to a 1/3 pager?" Then you basically have about 150 words, or a paragraph, for the review. Some games are very reviewable in a few words. And the benefit of shorter word counts is that it forces the writer to focus on the heart of the game, rather than spend a page talking about how his home-made joystick/optical reader wouldn't work with the game until he used a patch from wonksareus.com, or rambling on about how when the writer was in high school he had an Atari, and how cool pong was, but now his mama doesn't let him play on the TV downstairs, etc. Also, a LOT of writers on some web sites, with virtually unlimited word count, spend a lot of that space listing stuff like feature lists that come off the box or official web page, but never really talk about the gaming experience. Still, I think 1000 words (that's Gamespy's approximate count) is a good length. As for BCM, here's my mini-review: A huge, freeform universe in which you can do just about anything you want to do, from trade to fighting to just wandering around. Sound and graphics aren't awe inspiring, but they're good enough. The game doesn't lay a story out for you, you have to create the role-playing aspect in your mind, but if you like that type of open-ended gameplay, BCM provides a huge and rich universe in which to play and you'll absolutely love the game. If you need a story-line laid out for you, or lots of interactivity such as NPC conversations, etc., you'll hate this. The End
Supreme Cmdr Posted February 27, 2002 Author Report Posted February 27, 2002 LOL!!! Man, thats funny. I know what you mean. Sometimes I read reviews and come away with, well, nothing. Still haven't received my CGW issue yet. I'm going to seek out and ambush my mail guy every day this week. I swear he's reading my mags before delivering them.
Supreme Cmdr Posted February 27, 2002 Author Report Posted February 27, 2002 woohooo!! Got my copy in the mail today. I literally had to wrestle the mailman to the ground. I happened to see him drive up, through the window of my office. hehe Anyway, 3.5/5 stars I have posted a scanned copy. Wait'll you see how much stuff Jeff crammed in 500 words.
Recommended Posts
Please sign in to comment
You will be able to leave a comment after signing in
Sign In Now