Multiwinia got only 7.6 on IGN...

[Zereg]

http://pc.ign.com/articles/910/910076p1.html
Just 7.6? I'm very disapointed I saw that IGN really anticipated this game and loved it from the previews, but meh... i thought the minimum score that IGN will give Multiwinia is 8...
discuss...

[Phelanpt]

Vic was faster than you.

[Mas Tnega]

7.5 to 7.9 (Good)
A good game has some obvious flaws, but these blemishes are overshadowed by one or several first-rate elements. While these games may not be for everyone, they're still entertaining enough to provide genuine entertainment while they last.

Looking at what's being said in the review, it wasn't likely to be much higher.

[MikeTheWookiee]

Well, their main complaint appears to be the power-up crates appearing like the weapons in Mario Kart, in that if you're winning, you get the equivalent of a single green shell, whereas if you're getting thrashed, you'll end up with lightning bolts and spiky shells. Not being in the beta, I can't say how much it really affects the gameplay and is MK-like, but that was one aspect of Mario Kart which, while infuriating when you're on the receiving end, made it all the more fun, imo, especially with friends.

Plus, IGN appears to be a more 'fair' site to me (admittedly not a regular reader), not giving 90%'s all round for buying lots of ad space. So, when you're only 1.4 worse than spore, that can't be bad, right?

[bert_the_turtle]

Well, their main complaint appears to be the power-up crates appearing like the weapons in Mario Kart, in that if you're winning, you get the equivalent of a single green shell, whereas if you're getting thrashed, you'll end up with lightning bolts and spiky shells. Not being in the beta, I can't say how much it really affects the gameplay and is MK-like, but that was one aspect of Mario Kart which, while infuriating when you're on the receiving end, made it all the more fun, imo, especially with friends.

My thoughts exactly, even though I never played Mario Kart. Hmm, "Multiwinia - The Mario Kart of Real Time Strategy".

[Rkiver]

Not sure what I can say about the crate drops......apologies if this actually breaks the NDA Chris.

When losing you get better crates, if that is what you have set the options to. You can also set it to completely random, which is far more fun imho.

[Xocrates]

I would comment, but I fear I would break the NDA.

However, I would like to mention that I don't think what Rkiver said is completely correct.

[MarvintheParanoidAndroid]

Why do people assume anything below an 8 is a "bad" review? I would imagine that the kind of person who would immediately dismiss a 7.6 game as not worth playing is probably not the kind of person who should be playing Multiwinia anyway. On the other hand, actually reading the review itself, they say plenty of nice things, and people who read the review and decide it's worth giving a shot will probably enjoy Multiwinia all the more.

[xander]

Why do people assume anything below an 8 is a "bad" review? I would imagine that the kind of person who would immediately dismiss a 7.6 game as not worth playing is probably not the kind of person who should be playing Multiwinia anyway. On the other hand, actually reading the review itself, they say plenty of nice things, and people who read the review and decide it's worth giving a shot will probably enjoy Multiwinia all the more.

I own a PS2. I buy maybe one or two games every year. Before I buy a game, I talk to people, read a lot of reviews, &c. I don't want to buy a crap game (unless it is really cheap, in which case it doesn't fit into the two-per-year category). Thus, I tend to ignore anything that doesn't get an 8 or higher. It is not that those are bad reviews, it is that I simply don't care to take a risk on something that is meant to keep me entertained for several months. This strategy has gotten me Ico, Shadow of the Colossus, and Rez, all of which I am very happy with. Are there other games that I might like? Certainly -- but why risk it?

xander

[Xocrates]

From Metacritic:

Virtually all of the publications we use as sources for game reviews (a) assign scores on a 0-100 scale (or equivalent) to their reviews, and (b) are very explicit about what those scores mean. And these publications are almost unanimous in indicating that scores below 50 indicate a negative review, while it usually takes a score in the upper 70s or higher to indicate that the game is unequivocally good.

The site itself marks 75-89 as "Generally Favorable Reviews" and 50-74 as "Mixed or Average Reviews"

Anything bellow 8 means the game is usually "average", but with games costing 50+ $/€ average is usually not good enough.

I'll be honest. I think IGN made a fair review, although I think they missed some important elements: In particular, they say that

Multiwinia's most questionable element is its rebalancing system

But them fail to point out that this can be tweaked (as Rkiver pointed out).
That said, I think the score is, although less than I expected, fair.

[Mas Tnega]

I would comment, but I fear I would break the NDA.

However, I would like to mention that I don't think what Rkiver said is completely correct.

You want to somehow subtract a "good" from his statement, don't you.

Why do people assume anything below an 8 is a "bad" review? I would imagine that the kind of person who would immediately dismiss a 7.6 game as not worth playing is probably not the kind of person who should be playing Multiwinia anyway. On the other hand, actually reading the review itself, they say plenty of nice things, and people who read the review and decide it's worth giving a shot will probably enjoy Multiwinia all the more.

I like to think overall scores as a percent chance you'll get some serious fun out of it. 7.6/10.0? I like those odds!

[Nimbus]

I wouldn't put too much faith in reviews until the full game is actually out. Chances are that they will do a review of the "full version" once it is out. I would image that this would get a more acurate (higher) score.

[Nimbus]

I wouldn't put too much faith in reviews until the full game is actually out. Chances are that they will do a review of the "full version" once it is out. I would image that this would get a more acurate (higher) score.

What makes you think they didn't have a proper copy of the game already? It would be stupid to review a non-final game, not to mention how stupid they will look if they redo a review.

IGN gave it a 7.6, period. There's nothing that's going to change that, and I honestly don't see why it should be changed in the first place. IGN is, as previously mentioned, one of the more trustworthy sources of reviews these days, not giving in to all the sponsor bullshit that sites like GameSpot are infamous for nowadays (Jeff Gerstmann ring a bell?). At the end of the day this means that a 7.6 is a good score and IV can be happy with it.

Don't forget that the true lovers of Introversion's games haven't had their word yet - PC Gamer springs to mind.

Jelco

Err, sorry, that kind of came out wrong. I was trying to say that IGN's score, being a pre-release review, probably wouldn't really reflect the majority of the reviews (Especially considering that multiwinia is a multiplayer game). Not to mention the fact that alot of the problems IGN pointed out (Limited variety in game modes and maps, and no level editor to speak of) could be fixed in a few months time.

[Frustian]

IGN May not play to corporate money (It's just us guessing whether or not they do, I would guess that they are influenced by money).

But they suffer severely from "Playing to the masses", and rating games based on what they think the public opinion will be, not the game's true score, so they never appear to be wrong.

The review was phail, and I can don't even need to play MW to invalidate most of his points. IGN makes me sad inside, and it is not just from this game. go back and look at their old reviews, and see what I mean. Any site that thinks Halo 3 is better than FPS greats like Quake 3 and UT2K4, and gives AoE 1&2 scoes of ~80% is phail.

[MrBunsy]

and gives AoE 1&2 scoes of ~80% is phail.

They were awesome, though