Josh H

EGM gave Dead to Rights a 6.5, 5.0, 5.0. (Visuals 5, Sound 7, Ingenuity 6, Replay 2).

Basically they say the shooting parts are great and the rest sucks as it is basically hitting the punch button over and over and a bnuch of "annoying mini-games.

Looks like a rental.

Buffy looks like it will be a must buy for fans of the show and a rental for others. It got a 7.5, 6.0, 6.0 (Visuals 8, 7, 4, 3). They say it really captures the atmosphere of the show "but needs tighter gameplay." One problem they mention is the camera which "guarantees enemies will be out of view 50% of the time." They also complain about annoying one liners that repeat to often and a huge spike in difficulty late in the game.

One reviewer did say the fighting system/combo engine was pretty decent, and much better than games like Dead to Rights and State of Emergency.

Basically buy it if you're a fan of the show, rent first otherwise.



If you were highly anticipating these games, don't let these reviews kill all your interest. EGM is pretty tough. They also reviewed Eternal Darkness this issue giving it a 9.0, 8.0, 7.5, which is the lowest review scores I've seen for that game.

CreatureX

I haven't received my issue yet. Which game was given "game of the month"?

Aghama

I'd probably have given Eternal Darkness at 7.5

Josh H

Madden 2003 on the PS2 is game of the month. It got 9.5, 9.5, 9.0.

I'd have given ED a 9.0. My only gripe is that there aren't enough enemies. There's only I believe 5 types of zombies that really aren't much different, trappers, horrors, reapers, bonethieves, 3 types of guardians and greater guardians (which really just look different) and the vampire thing.

I think that made the game a little repetitive, but I mean there's not many different enemies in Resident Evil either.

EGM cited repetitive combat, which I disagree with. The combat is no more repetitive than any other game of this kind. I mean RE was just shoot a few times, set the zombie on fire, repeat.

The repetitiveness comes from killing the same things over and over. If they'd fixed that I'd probably give it a 10.

YujiNaka

What did Madden 2003 get on Xbox/Gamecube?

EGM seems overly tough sometimes, and usually a bit too biased towards their major advertisers..

Good magazine though, as they are basically all going to be biased...

GameGO! magazine was one of the few that i really enjoyed (ie: it had no ads, nobody really to cater to...)

Xbox nation is nice too, as the editors actually seem to also hate the xbox while love it..

-Jim

Gallant Pig

EGM has low balled a few of my favorite games so I tend to take their reviews with a grain of salt. Also they pissed themselves over Crazy Taxi 3 which I don't care for, so I tend to just look at IGN and GameSpot.

Thanks for posting the reviews though. Buffy looks like a rental to me, Dead to Rights I haven't heard much of, maybe a rental too if IGN or Gamespot like it.

Josh H

They didn't review the other versions. I guess they didn't get copies of them in time or something.

I'm sure the reviews will be similar, maybe half a point lower than the PS2 version as it is the only one with online play.

I couldn't disagree more with the notion that they cater to advertisers.

I think out of all magazines ever, they do this the least. I remember Acclaim pulling ads years ago because EGM was trashing their games.

They tell it how it is, and are pretty unmerciful.

I don't always agree with their overall reviews, but I usually agree with at least one of the three. Like the ED review. Chris Johnson, who gave it a 9, pretty much echoed my sentiments on the game.

YujiNaka

Trashing acclaim is like a pre-req..

Doesn't really tell me much.

If 3 different reviewers give 3 varying scores, how the hell is that supposed to help anyone determine whether they should buy it or not?

Do they just look at the highest one and say "lets buy it" or the lowest one? And if they take the average, that really doesnt tell them anything, since obviously one person could have loved it, and one hated it..

I guess I just prefer the other mags, even Gamepro, to EGM.

-Jim

Flay

OXM gave Buffy a 9.0 and Dead to Rights an 8.5. Other reviews included Crazy Taxi 3: 8.0, Gunmetal: 7.9, Enclave: 7.4.

Of course basing a purchase decision on just EGM or just OXM is lunacy, IMO. It's best to wait until several reviews are released to see any type of consistency.

darkside

OXM's reviews can be tossed out the window. They are the most biased magazine I have ever read. They throw around 9.0 like its nothing. Many of their 8.5 and 9.0 reviewed games are 6.5 and 7.0 games at best. What's messed up is some real 9.5 games are there right next to other 9.5 games that don't deserve it. By their scale Halo should be about a 15.5.

Nintendo Power and the official PS2 mag aren't a whole lot better, but no one touches Official Xbox Magazine for pure lies and bias. Stay away from official mags when looking for decent reviews.


I agree with EGM 9 times out of 10 when I play a game they have reviewed. Of all the mags I think they try hardest to be honest in their reviews. Even when they review a game negatively they still try to point out details of a game that are good in case it might appeal to a certain type of video game fan. Also when giving a positive review they still try to point out things that certain people might dislike in the game. Best Magazine out there IMO.

Josh H

Yuji,

EGM has a little profile of each editor that tells you what genres they like best, and what they're current favorite games are, that lets you judge which of the three you'll be most likely to agree with. The more you read, the more you know which editor's tastes most close mirror your own (just like finding a film critic you tend to agree with, and putting more stock in his/her reviews when deciding whether to see a movie you're on the fence about).

Of course the 3 reviews are going to vary in most cases. Everyones opinion is different. If a game gets high scores from all 3 reviewers, you can be pretty sure that it's a great game.

But if you don't like them, that's fine. I think they're the only decent multiplatform magazine, and I think you have to be a fool to even bother reading biased crap like Nintendo Power, OPM, and OXM for reviews.

YujiNaka

I dont really read anything for reviews, as I generally know what I Am gonna buy from demos and by publisher..

IE -> anything by SEGA I can pretty much buy, or at least by specific Sega development teams... (am2, sonic team, etc)

And other than SEGA, I generally play the game before buying..

does anyone even use a reviewin a magazine to judge what games they'll be here? i could see kids and casual gamers, but I doubt any of the posters here...
-Jim

Josh H

I use reviews on games I don't know much about. I don't like wasting money renting games blindly, and magazines that come with demo discs are too expensive.

Like you, I generally know what games I want, but there are still games that look interesting that are from a publisher I'm not familiar with or are fairly new in style to the point that I don't know if I'd like it or not.

But then again, I'm more of a casual gamer most of the year anyway as I'm so busy with college and work that I only play games around 5 hours a week, except on summer vacation and other breaks. So I don't have time to rent a bunch of games. I just buy the ones I'm sure I'll like, and use EGMs reviews to keep an eye for sleeper hits that I might have missed otherwise.

ten41

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Scheherazade

Buffy needs it's own thread :P This game is a must buy for anyone with an Xbox. I actually bought an Xbox just for this game... sure I was already on the fence, but this put me over. If you're not sure, rent it, but you really do not need to be a fan. The battle system is awesome, there's no better feeling than staking a vampire in the chest... well, except for maybe throwing a vampire into an overturned chair and having it stake them in the chest.

The humor, the music, the atmosphere... it's all spot on. All the voices are there except SMG, but her voice actor sounds JUST like her. This has got to be the best game I have played in a long time. Just when I was getting delusioned by everything coming out, never being excited about going back to play a title a second time, never regretting having to quit a game and turn the machine off to do mundane things like sleep and eat... this game changed all that.

Even if you didn't want anything to do with this game, at least rent it... I think you'd be pleasantly surprised. It's great for fans and non-fans alike, though admittedly fans might have more fun with it just from the sheer amounts of dialogue and show-themed environments.

~Scheherazade

Tamrok

Couldn't agree more! I was on the fence about getting this game until Gamespot and IGN both gave it good scores. I bought it and ended up loving it. The fighting system is much deeper than I ever hoped for in a game like this. The ability to impale vampires on objects in the environment and throw them through boarded-up windows (where the sun sets them ablaze) is a nice, unique feature. I would highly recommend the game.

Scheherazade

Makes me wish for a Xena game of the same calibur... doubt it'll happen but I can dream

darkside

Wasn't the Xena game highly thought of when it came out? I thought it got very good reviews.

I doubt there will be an updated version though considering the show is over.

Scheherazade

The Xena game on the PSOne or the N64? The PSOne game was okay... but that's okay by PSOne standards. The N64 game, as well, was okay but by the standards of that console. Not to mention that the N64 game was a fighting game and nothing like Buffy. The other game is just dated, I'd love to see something the scope of Buffy done with Xena on a next generation console. A lot of Xena fans seem to be Buffy fans and vice versa so who knows

~Scheherazade

costanza187

^5...Totally agree with you! This game was helped me choose XBOX over PS2...and I'm glad I did...I love this game...granted being a big fan of the show helped...The game would be really cool on its own.

finbogg

Buffy was great. A friend of mine picked it up and I got to play it a bunch over the weekend. I don't even watch the show and I thoroughly enjoyed this game. It's more than just a "fighter". There is a huge variety of great moves you can perform and nothing beats killing a vampire with a backhand stake to the heart.

From the videos I've seen of Dead to Rights, it looks really cool, but who knows how it plays.

That cornerstone of the game reviewing industry, FHM, gave it 5 stars so it must be good.

mee2

Buffy is an incredible game. I played both Buffy, and DTR demos in Software Etc. and immediately had them ring me up for Buffy. There's nothing wrog witht he camera IMHO, it's no different than any other acclaimed 3D 3rd person game.
DTR ont he other hand didn't really catch my attention, it just seemed sloppy....

warcp

i bought eternal darkness last week and rented buffy 3 days ago. eternal darkness has sat on the shelf since. buffy is a surprisingly good game- i thought it'd be a quickie tv tie-in release. deep fightiing system, good graphics and great surround.