Review Attack of the Show says Oblivion "not worth $60"

[DarkUnderlord]

Tags: Bethesda Softworks; Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

<a href="http://www.g4tv.com/">G4TV</a> have a <a href="http://www.g4tv.com/videos/index.html?video_key=10806">quick video review</a> of Oblivion. They spent all of fifty minutes (IE: Not long at all) looking at the 360 version but hey, seeing as both versions of the game are identical (including that shoddy interface), here's their final verdict anyway:
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<blockquote>Fighting "crazy killer crabs" is one of the best parts of the whole game, along with fighting their rat cousins but we have to say it's a pass because:
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<ul><li>There's a lack of any real connection with your character
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<li>A persistent next-gen world should not "chug"
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<li>... nor should it have random load hits
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<li>3rd person mode feels like an after-thought
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<li><b>Combat is not all that fulfilling</b> and you'll be doing it for most of the game</ul></blockquote>They conclude by saying it's simply "not a must have title. $30 game? I'm sold but put the $60 in your pocket and wait for it to come down in price".
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You can <a href="http://www.g4tv.com/videos/index.html?video_key=10806">watch the summary for yourself here</a>.
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Thanks <b>aweigh</b>!

 

[Venom]

That's an Attack Of The Show review. They play games for an hour then post impressions. The host himself loves the game. It's the review team in the back that played for 50 mins that didn't.

Here's where they say themselves they played for 50 minutes plus the backlash against them.

http://www.g4tv.com/attackoftheshow/blo ... l#readmore

 

[dipdipdip]

Thankfully, I only payed $30 and change for the PC version thanks to some trade-ins I'd had lying around the house. If I'd been dumb enough to have purchased an Xbox 360 just to play the game, then I'd be smacking myself all up and down the street.

I bought a great game called Guitar Heroes for the ps2 along with Oblivion for the PC, and I'm actually more compelled to play GH than I am Oblivion.

 

[Twinfalls]

That is an incredibly crass and stupid review by a bunch of Beavis and Butthead chuckleheads.

Why is this 'review' being posted here? It makes the accusation that the Codex simply posts Oblivion reviews when they're negative, all too accurate.

How do you suppose these dumb oiks would rate Fallout after their 50 minute 'playtest' (which consisted of trying to play the game as GTA)?

Where the fuck have the standards of this place gone to?

 

[kingcomrade]

Being right for the wrong reasons is just as useless as being wrong in the first place, in cases like this. I never watched "gamer" TV simply because it seemed lame to me back when I had cable and still seems lame to me now. I can make my own decisions on whether a game is good or not, I would like reviews that give some sort of summary of gameplay (and previews/interviews like the ones VD does, which ask questions about gameplay mechanics). That's probably why a lot of gaming site reviews are so useless, they just go through a list of "ooh pritty" or "this bugged me" seemingly at random, there's no comprehensive analysis. I think I've made this comment before a couple times, but that's an example of high-school newspaper quality writing.

 

[7th Circle]

They review a game (one reputed to be an rpg) based on 50mins gameplay!!

And to think I thought it was bad enough given how few reviews actually managed to play enough to mention the levelling issue...

 

[DarkUnderlord]

Why is this 'review' being posted here? It makes the accusation that the Codex simply posts Oblivion reviews when they're negative, all too accurate.

Yeah, we only post the negative reviews.

• Oblivion blowjob competition continues! Cast your votes (4 reviews, all 90%+)
• Oblivion loved by Strategy Informer
• Oblivion scores 10/10 at Boomtown
• Oblivion love at Just Press Play
• Oblivion scores 5/5 at Games Domain
• Have they got no shame? Oblivion and the media (2 reviews, both 90%+)

Idiot.

That is an incredibly crass and stupid review by a bunch of Beavis and Butthead chuckleheads.

How do you suppose these dumb oiks would rate Fallout after their 50 minute 'playtest' (which consisted of trying to play the game as GTA)?

Where the fuck have the standards of this place gone to?

Firstly, why do you think I mentioned they only played 50 minutes in the brief I posted (and was so dismissive of it)? I didn't attempt to hide that fact at all. Secondly, who said we can't complain about this review like we do every other "moronic" review? Unlike VD, I just don't ram it down your throat in the news post itself.

However, I find it interesting that after 50 minutes with the game for these guys, they don't like it. Where-as some other people never stop talking about it after their first 50 minutes. They have to reach hour 75 before they realise what's going on.

 

[Twinfalls]

Well, I'll concede that enough of the gushing reviews have been posted here. But this thing is the absolute anthesis of reviewing, the lowest, most stupid, cause-of-everything-that's-wrong-with-the-world type of wilful retardation I've ever witnessed.

If a generation of American game players is being reared on that shit, god help us, or the US at least.

 

[Old Scratch]

Your "news" posts are horrible Dark Underlord.

 

[FrancoTAU]

True enough, it is a shit review by shitheads. Did i miss the memo where we don't like to post up shitty reviews and tear them apart? Nobody had a problem goofing on the poor ass reviews for Hammer&Sickle, so why the problem with this one?

Back off Elder Scroll fanboys, as far as i see this is an easy slam dunk for you to defend against.

 

[Voss]

I think I missed a meeting where someone explains how this type of review is different from the 'perfersional' reviews by the gaming rags/sites.

Its still some random jackoff's opinion, no matter how you wash it. Come on, most developers don't play all the way through their own games, why keep pretending the reviewers do?

 

[roguefrog]

On the subject on "Gamer TV", it's retarded. All the hosts on G4 have a pathetically casual taste and narrow view of industry.

 

[Jed]

Guitar Hero does indeed ... rock. I just finished it on easy today. I'll have to give it another go through when I have time.

 

[EvoG]

Xplay is actually very good and sort of reminds me of the codex, in that special jaded way. They rip on everything(they hate anime games), and most of the time its quite funny, and even when they like a game they rip on it. Only the rare 4's and super rare 5's out of 5 do the games avoid derisive comments...mostly. Hell, many times they even rip on 'previews' of games.

 

[DarkUnderlord]

Xplay is actually very good and sort of reminds me of the codex, in that special jaded way. They rip on everything(they hate anime games), and most of the time its quite funny, and even when they like a game they rip on it. Only the rare 4's and super rare 5's out of 5 do the games avoid derisive comments...mostly. Hell, many times they even rip on 'previews' of games.

Feedback on the Attack of the Show Review:

yea, everyone here is rite (aid), 50 minutes aint not no eenuf to give a good reveiw. but ya no, these reviews dont matter at all, the only good reviews are xplay. this is just crap from a good show. o well. HURRY UP XPLAY!!

1. Xplay rip on everything and rarely give good scores.

2. Someone with ADHD is waiting for their review because they don't like what Attack of the Show said.

I'll just let that sit for you to dwell on.

 

[Sol Invictus]

So they hate anime games for some biased reason, and that makes them good, EvoG? I didn't know you could judge a game's quality in a fair manner, simply based on its art style alone. Fuck that. It's one thing to be 'jaded' about games, another to act like dismissive jackasses while claiming to be fair.

Just how the hell can you judge a game based on the first 50 minutes of play? If that were the case, then great games like Hearts of Iron 2, Civilization 2 and X-Com would be in the bottom tier because of how long it takes to deal with the learning curve.

 

[EvoG]

Wait hold the fuck up both of you. :D

I'm not defending this 50 minute "review" shit...of course its ridiculous...I'd like to think BOTH of you know how I "roll" regarding games.

I just made a simple comment that I LIKE XPLAY and that they bust on games in a very satisfyingly humorous way. The ANIME comment was simply to contrast the view people think casual gaming shows/magazines/blogs tend to have towards mainstream games. Thats it. They hate the anime games because the GENUINELY SUCK, as such my 'evidence' of the fact they dont arbitrarily rate games good because casual gamers might like them. They are just as critical as we all are.

Jesus DU you're riding me today, wtf you want I say hi to you more often? Feeling left out? Come here and have a hug you whore. :D

 

[Zomg]

There's nothing wrong with this newspost. This is interesting, even if only in a decline of western civilization kind of way.

Oblivion for the PC, and I'm actually more compelled to play GH than I am Oblivion.

Guitar Hero is great.

 

[Sol Invictus]

Now on the topic of the review:

One of their negatives was the "lack of connection to your character". If you watched the review, you'll know exactly what they're referring to, so I'll go straight to the point and post my response:

Well, they seem to be complaining about the fact that your character is a character you have to actually make for yourself. A tabula rasa, as it were. One of the responses on their website can sum up my thoughts rather well:

"The game is role-playing game in its true and classic form but with a next-gen engine and the present cutting edge in such game play. They do not make the character or his background. You create it as the player. His past is your imagination and his future is only loosely guided by them."

Is that not the very definition of a role playing game? Indeed it is! Oblivion is a classic RPG. I for one a, sick and tired of so-called RPGs that force you to play a certain character (e.g. Cloud from FF7) and claim to be RPGs. Those aren't RPGs, they're adventure games!

One of the things I've enjoyed most about classic RPGs like Fallout, Baldur's Gate, TOEE and a ton of others is the character creation. It's the very core of what an RPG is supposed to be. You create a character, come up with his backstory, and play him through the game knowing his motivations and directing his actions based on your grasp of your character.

Take that away, and you take away the RPG.

These morons don't grasp that. They seem to think that your character needs some 'engaging backstory' like Cloud does. Bah.

 

[DarkUnderlord]

Jesus DU you're riding me today, wtf you want I say hi to you more often? Feeling left out? Come here and have a hug you whore. :D

Actually I was saying there's a kid with ADHD out there who's going to get sorely disappointed. It didn't have anything to do with you beyond the fact that you made the quote saying "XPlay rips on game".

And Rex is wrong, Anime does suck, purely because it is Anime.

Well, they seem to be complaining about the fact that your character is a character you have to actually make for yourself.

Actually I read it as the game not having any real response to your actions but I suppose after 50 minutes it would be hard to guage that, unless Oblivion really is shitty in that regard.

 

[Sol Invictus]

Actually I read it as the game not having any real response to your actions but I suppose after 50 minutes it would be hard to guage that, unless Oblivion really is shitty in that regard.

Have you even played the game, or watched the review, for that matter? Anyway, if you did, you'd know that the game does in fact react to your actions, some of it in the short term, others in the long term. The Canvas in the Castle quest in Chorrol is a good example. Of course, as you said, it wouldn't be possible to get that far into the game in 50 minutes anyhow.

Regardless, they were referring to the fact that your character has to be created by you, and the game doesn't give you a predefined character that you can connect to. Those monkeys who played the game for 50 minutes were expecting a typical console RPG, but they got Oblivion instead.

 

[obediah]

Is that not the very definition of a role playing game? Indeed it is! Oblivion is a classic RPG. I for one a, sick and tired of so-called RPGs that force you to play a certain character (e.g. Cloud from FF7) and claim to be RPGs. Those aren't RPGs, they're adventure games!

Nuh-uh! You play the role of cloud, so it's a ROLEPLAYING game. And the bestest ever, just thinking about Aeris makes my body grow vaginas and then cry out of them.

 

[Jack_Deth]

Yea, I wouldn't listen to G4TV for a review. I'm sure if they did review Fallout back in the day they would have given it a 1/5 because it has turnbased combat.

The game is pretty good, the dialog system could be better and maybe the main quest and guild quests not as linear. XBox 360 must suck as my computer isn't that great and it doesn't stutter.

 

[Kraszu]

Diablo is a true rpg you can choose to play as a warrior mage or archer.

 

[vrok]

Having spent 60+ hours over 4 different characters in Oblivion I can tell you that I agree 100% with all their non-xbox points.

The only geniunely good thing about the game I can think of is the size of the game and the Dark Brotherhood quest line. That questline is the only time I could feel any kind of connection between myself and my character, regardless if I made a true assassin or a fighter/mage. The rest of the guild and main quests are so terrible in comparison I really regret rushing through the Dark brotherhood during the first 10 hours of the game. So yeah, they are in fact correct on this point during the majority of the game. Regardless if they meant it this way or not and regardless if they only tried the game for 10 minutes or 10 weeks.

While endless mindnumbing combat (which is what Oblivion is all about) may be gay, it becomes even worse when the combat system itself is gay. Hold block until a successful block (as in doesn't stun you) is made, press attack or maybe pull off one of the 3 superspecial moves which happen to be the same for all 3 melee skills and hardly works even half of the time, chug potion or heal and repeat. This may be fine, that is until you happen to fight a particular hard hitting opponent that stuns you every other attack he makes regardless if you block or not. Being stunned for 50% of a fight that lasts over a minute is not what I consider fun combat.

This is all if you fight with a shield, if you fight with a 2 handed weapon you will most of the time be reduced to spamming regular attacks while moving backwards basically like fighting with a bow because the only advantage you have with 2 handers and bows is the same, extended range. Sure you can do the same old block, attack procedure with 2 handers but the same can be said about bows, nothing is preventing you from blocking with your bow and shooting at melee range but it's just not efficient. Fighting multiple opponents at once is basically running around in circles preferably backwards and spamming attack while hoping none of your enemies manage to get close enough to stun you. Combat feedback aswell is weak, mostly in the animation department.

Playing a fighter in this game is almost like playing a barbarian in Diablo 2 only they took away all your special moves and replaced them with a block button. The only option you have is getting a few crappy spells everyone else can get to replace what could've been awesome melee combat but you won't have near big enough of a mana pool to do anything useful with your spells, especially not if you want any kind of healing when you're out of potions. Playing a mage on the other hand is like playing Quake complete with circlestrafing, movement prediction and rocket launchers. Anything else is a waste of time and mana. And you all know the third person mode is gay. So that's 3 out of 3 points they made related to the PC version that are actually true whether intended or not, justified or not.

3/3 possible gay points. That's pretty gay if you ask me. So go ahead and whine all you want that they were unprofessional and didn't test the game enough to do it justice etc. That doesn't make their points any less true though. Because the game is lacking in some of it's most crucial parts. Hell, even FEAR has better melee combat than Oblivion.


PS. If you're going to whine about how I've spent 60+ hours in a game I supposedly dislike, don't. You wouldn't want to see my estimated playtime in games like the Battlefield series and WoW. Not to mention the amount of playthroughs of the standard load of RPGs. Playing games is my life.