Ultimate Ghosts 'n Goblins (PSP)

[StriderKyo]

I don't have anything against EGM, I think their reviews are usually pretty decent, but damn that's a harsh score. I'm pretty sure the Japanese press average was up around 85-90%.

[Mikey]

That's very reassuring, since Edge doesn't dole out 9s very often.

It depends on the reviewer. They're not named but you can tell from the quality of the writing if it's the good reviewer or one of the bad ones. These magazines usually have about 3 or 4 staff writers. One reviewer seems to have a thing for referring to games as possessors of qualities, and uses the possessive 'its' like it was going out of fashion.

'Seeing only its main quest through is less than half its reward, and attepting to race beyond its own predetermines speed limits only results in frustration, but given the time to slow-burn and settle in at its own tempo the immensity of its offerings will rarely disappoint.'
- The last 50-word sentence in Last month's Steamboat Chronicles review.

[Yoshi]

You know... EGM's idiocy is well documented, but I'm taking this one personally. This is not a port, a remake, or any other rehash. It's a brand new game that uses the capability of the hardware seemingly to its fullest. These fucking chimps at EGM are going to damage its sales, because some knuckle-dragging Maddenite believes them when they give FFVIII 9s and this a 4.5. That lessens the chances of real gamers getting more games like this, and that pisses me off.

[Bacon McShig]

NERD RIOT!

[Yoshi]

Hells yes.

[Finch]

Maybe it really does suck. *shrug* I don't want to buy it anyway. I just want someone here who has similar tastes to my own to convince me.

[warnpro]

You know... EGM's idiocy is well documented, but I'm taking this one personally. This is not a port, a remake, or any other rehash. It's a brand new game that uses the capability of the hardware seemingly to its fullest. These fucking chimps at EGM are going to damage its sales, because some knuckle-dragging Maddenite believes them when they give FFVIII 9s and this a 4.5. That lessens the chances of real gamers getting more games like this, and that pisses me off.

I myself could careless what those fuktards at EGM rate this game. The review staff for this game probably never played it's predecessors, or if they did gave up on them because of their difficulty.

The Fact is this poor review will put a decent hit in the U.S sales, and lessen the chances of these types of games being released in the future.

Atleast Famitsu gave it a 9,8,9,8 and I believe Play gave it the cover & a 9.5/10. However EGM probably has over 10X the amount of subscribers as Play does.

[sethsez]

Maybe it really does suck. *shrug*

Yeah, it's possible. There's a fine line between fair-difficult as stupid-difficult, and the series always managed to stay on the right side of that line, even when pushing it as far as it would go. Maybe this one finally went off the deep end?

Here's a quote from Jeremy Parish:

Secondly, the import version of Ultimate Ghosts 'N' Goblins has arrived at the office, so I can finally talk about what complete crap it is without breaking any embargoes. Although I guess I should save my juiciest venom for the 1UP review. It is a terrible, terrible game, and the fact that some people have convinced themselves it is a work of art speaks volumes about how powerful the forces of nostalgia and franchising can be. It is not the game everyone was hoping for, except that small demographic that savors physical and psychological trauma. In fact, it is the worst thing to be inflicted upon the Ghosts 'N' Goblins legend since the atrocious Game Boy Color port of the NES port of the original arcade game. It is not good in every sense of the phrase.

Had UG'n'G been attached to any other name, people would be throwing it off the rooftops and setting fire to the developers' hair; but since it's attached to a series known for its toughness, fans of the series are deluding themselves into believing that its cheap level designs, ugly graphical "style" and completely broken control scheme are positive traits. I've even read that Edge gave it a 9, which is unheard of for a lousy game developed outside the UK. Of course, I can't hold that against them -- my finger slipped on the number row recently as well, although admittedly not by five whole keys.

Well, stick to your guns, UG'n'G fans. Maybe if you believe in its quality hard enough a magical fairy godmother will turn you into a hardcore gamer. Meanwhile, I'll stick to games that don't completely suck. Like Deep Labyrinth. (I believe the proper sound effect here is zing.)

[Joust Williams]

ouch

My gut reaction is the "real" score is somewhere in the middle though. He's probably right as far as why it gets great reviews, but he's taking a knee-jerk reaction giving it a poor one.

[Yoshi]

Jeremy Parish is a fucking idiot though, so that means nothing to me. In fact, it probably increases the chance of it being good.