Latest Edge Review scores (GOTY 2010 reviewed)

[TripleA]

Super Mario Galaxy 2 – 10
Alan Wake – 7
Lost Planet 2 – 6
Split Second – 8
Cave Story – 8
WarioWare: D.I.Y. – 8
Nier – 6
Skate 3 – 7
Lead and Gold – 6
The Scourge Project: Episodes 1 & 2 – 3
What Did I Do To Deserve This, My Lord!? 2 – 8
3D Dot Game Heroes – 6
The Whispering World – 6
Sin and Punishment - 8

http://www.nintendoeverything.com/38996/

[archie4208]

I don't see a Civilization V score in that list.

[Madrun Badrun]

so excited

[magus]

[youtube=560,345][/youtube]

[demi]

Split Second - 8

Told yall. This game is gonna be hot.

[Beezy]

I don't see a Civilization V score in that list.

real talk

[Great Rumbler]

You’re going to take it for granted. And why not? Mario’s titles always step lightly: they never undergo the rigorous pre-nup investigations most games sit through, and they’re not sliced open and hyped up in studio visits, online documentaries and art team Q&As. With Mario, the work is hidden: he’s pieced together in glorious secrecy, and nobody gets to see him until he’s whole.

Besides, Nintendo makes it look so easy. An early level of Super Mario Galaxy 2 leads you from a 360-degree playground, around a corner, and into the depths of a 2D maze, via a transition so effortless that you won’t even notice it’s happened. Coins guide the way and perfect distractions litter the path until, finally, a huge door opens in the wall behind you, beckoning you back to the world of three dimensions. Beyond it, there’s a new route to follow, but now it hovers high above you, and it’s upside-down.

These shifts in tempo, perspective and dynamics are things on which other games tend to choke. Here, they’re thrown in for 20 minutes of one-shot fun. It’s often a criticism to say that something is built from gimmicks, but the problem only actually arises the moment those gimmicks run out. In Galaxy 2’s case, they never do. This is a game that refuses to bore you, that can take you to the 60-star mark before asking you to do the same thing twice. It reuses assets, but almost never recycles ideas; you’ll never see another title so thrifty, or so gratuitous.

Galaxy 2 is that rarest of things in Mario’s universe: a traditional sequel. After years of running left to right, this is what happens when the plumber stops moving for a moment, before swooping in for another pass. It’s no mere expansion: with the first blinding thrill of invention out of the way, it’s an opportunity to see exactly what Nintendo has achieved. It’s the platformer as playground, puzzle and toybox, as well as assault course, and the result will make you think about history just as its predecessor made you reconsider physics.

At times, it can be difficult to tell which Nintendo game is getting the sequel here. The plumber still leaps from planetoid to comet, moving from glass-shelled pill to carpeted travelator as he did two years ago, but these playgrounds ripple with echoes from Mario’s early days, too. Throughout, Nintendo handles its busy traditions with poise, finding the best way to incorporate three decades of enemies, mechanics and audio cues, and always leaving room for a perfect twist. Most astonishingly, contemporary Mario still feels like his 8bit counterpart. A firm little chunk of fat, he’s as approachable as ever, even as his moveset hits the levels of nuance more commonly found in fighting games.

Super Mario World is perhaps the strongest secondary influence, and not just because the developers are more willing to explore 2D spaces this time. The map’s back, helping to make design built on near-constant distraction seem both graceful and directed, and Yoshi also makes a welcome return. And, after Sunshine, it’s the right Yoshi – the one that makes you feel super-powered but precarious all at once. Equipped with a pointer-based gobble attack that sends you tongue-swinging from one hook to the next, the dinosaur surreptitiously blends traversal with something that approaches a lightgun game – just one trick out of many in this restless, replayable universe.

Yoshi’s transformative nature shines through in the other power-ups, almost all of which are built around mixing platforming with a different genre. Even in the early stages, the Drill turns levels into spatial puzzles while the Cloud Suit, allowing you to conjure a limited range of platforms, puts the focus on path-finding just as its rocky counterpart recalls the stunts and skittle-runs of both Wii Sports and Metroid. All mesh perfectly with their environments as the game swings you from the dusty outfields of the Spin-Dig Galaxy, through the dynamic candy-coloured terrors of somewhere like planet Puzzle Plank, where buzz-saws slice the floor to pieces around you, and out into the transdimensional strangeness of Haunted Halls, a skeletal ghost house that sets new standards for balancing intricacy and elegance.

All these worlds are yours, but some may take a while to claim. From the fourth map onwards, Galaxy 2 ups the challenge, rarely dropping you on to a platform that isn’t sinking or melting, or pitching you towards an incline that isn’t heavy with massive rolling cogs. It’s hard, but for the best reasons, earning the right to frustrate through the sheer quality of its ideas. The increased difficulty is merely a by-product of the new knots in which the designers want to tie your brain.

That desire to experiment is this astonishing game’s most dangerous achievement. As the adventures soars onwards, its various spaces become increasingly warped, and the final levels switch the emphasis from perfecting the 3D platformer to deconstructing it. Mario is rubbing up against the limits of the form as much as the edge of the universe here, and you’ll see worlds where ledges hang sparse in the air, and where ghosts plucked from the entire sweep of videogame history emerge in half-familiar clumpings of cubes or a nimble arrangement of switches.

Marvel at the pieces, but appreciate the whole. This isn’t a game that redefines the genre: this is one that rolls it up and locks it away. We’ve come so far, from stepping on mushrooms to drop-kicking meteors into the heart of the sun; Galaxy 2 offers a new understanding of where we’ve been, a new sense of wonder at where we’ll go next.

http://www.edge-online.com/magazine/review-super-mario-galaxy-2

[demi]

all i got from that review: wank wank wank

You can smell the salt

[Great Rumbler]

The first Galaxy also got 10 from Edge.

[Joe Molotov]

Alan Wake – 7
Lost Planet 2 – 6
Nier – 6
Skate 3 – 7
3D Dot Game Heroes – 6

Next-gen gaming annihilated.

[demi]

The first Galaxy also got 10 from Edge.

And... so what

[Barry Egan]

all i got from that review: wank wank wank

You can smell the salt

yup.  Sounds like shit game.

[TripleA]

@ Mario Galaxy being a shit game, you're joking right 

[Barry Egan]

First line of the review "You're going to take it for granted" i.e. when you don't recognize this as a masterpiece it's your fault.  Fanboy Defense Tactic 101. 

Where are my Whimsy Goggles so that I don't make the mistake of "taking it for granted"?

[brawndolicious]

I can understand why the first one would get a "perfect" score but there doesn't seem to be that many new ideas in the sequel.  Sequels usually get judged more harshly if they don't improve/change a lot of stuff.

[SantaC]

now if only Zelda could get back to standards (E3 cant get here soon enough)

[recursivelyenumerable]

You’re going to take it for granted. And why not? Mario’s titles always step lightly: they never undergo the rigorous pre-nup investigations most games sit through, and they’re not sliced open and hyped up in studio visits, online documentaries and art team Q&As. With Mario, the work is hidden: he’s pieced together in glorious secrecy, and nobody gets to see him until he’s whole.

That's what my ex-fiancee said.  Before she tried to slice me open.  Never again.

[Bebpo]

I can understand why the first one would get a "perfect" score but there doesn't seem to be that many new ideas in the sequel.  Sequels usually get judged more harshly if they don't improve/change a lot of stuff.

Maybe there is a lot of new innovation in the game?  I dunno, I'll give it the benefit of doubt until I play it.  MG was very creative.

[magus]

i like mario galaxy
i think this one will be good,but it really irks me off that people are already jumping on the "2010 GOTY" before even playing it,and review that go like that one are worthless

do you guys (*ahem* correction,single guy with the mario avatar) really need some validation from the bad and mean hardcore gamer who make fun of you?

[recursivelyenumerable]

After years of running left to right, this is what happens when the plumber stops moving for a moment, before swooping in for another pass.

so he was running (for years)
then he stopped running for a moment (so presumably he is still standing on the ground)
then he ... swoops in?  for another pass? 

somebody explain this metaphor to me?   

[Brehvolution]

I don't see a Civilization V score in that list.

First post wins.

/thread

[brawndolicious]

Ah sheeit I didn't even know they were making Civ 5.

After years of running left to right, this is what happens when the plumber stops moving for a moment, before swooping in for another pass.

so he was running (for years)
then he stopped running for a moment (so presumably he is still standing on the ground)
then he ... swoops in?  for another pass? 
somebody explain this metaphor to me?   

your mind just doesn't have the whimsy for it.

[Himu]

now if only Zelda could get back to standards (E3 cant get here soon enough)

This.

[Beezy]

3D Mario, woopty doo...

[WrikaWrek]

Super Mario Galaxy was one of those typically great Nintendo games that, very much like the Metroids and Zeldas, when i played it...i just didn't get it.

I don't get it, i really don't. I see that it's really well done, but i still don't get the appeal.

[bud]

Super Mario Galaxy was one of those typically great Nintendo games that, very much like the Metroids and Zeldas, when i played it...i just didn't get it.

I don't get it, i really don't. I see that it's really well done, but i still don't get the appeal.

it's mario... in 3d. what's there not to get?

[SantaC]

now if only Zelda could get back to standards (E3 cant get here soon enough)

This.

We agree on a lot lately. We always have.

[WrikaWrek]

Super Mario Galaxy was one of those typically great Nintendo games that, very much like the Metroids and Zeldas, when i played it...i just didn't get it.

I don't get it, i really don't. I see that it's really well done, but i still don't get the appeal.

it's mario... in 3d. what's there not to get?

But that's the thing.

Last Mario i had fun with was Mario 64. I don't get the appeal anymore.

[Trent Dole]

Super Mario Galaxy 2 – What Did I Do To Deserve This, My Lord!?

[bud]

Super Mario Galaxy was one of those typically great Nintendo games that, very much like the Metroids and Zeldas, when i played it...i just didn't get it.

I don't get it, i really don't. I see that it's really well done, but i still don't get the appeal.

it's mario... in 3d. what's there not to get?

But that's the thing.

Last Mario i had fun with was Mario 64. I don't get the appeal anymore.

it'll never get old for me. i still enjoy doing super mario land speedruns.

[Third]

SMG is probably still my favorite game of this generation, so far.
Looks like SMG2 will be better.

[Ichirou]

This isn't a Sakura Wars thread.

[Third]

Just googled Sakura Wars. Never heard of it before. I puked a little in my mouth when I saw the images.

[TripleA]

I can understand why the first one would get a "perfect" score but there doesn't seem to be that many new ideas in the sequel.  Sequels usually get judged more harshly if they don't improve/change a lot of stuff.

The addition of the iconic Yoshi will add revolutionary gameplay mechanics.

[TripleA]

now if only Zelda could get back to standards (E3 cant get here soon enough)

The thing is, the new Zelda might actually be incredibly different to its predecessors.

Voice-overs might be in it....

[Great Rumbler]

now if only Zelda could get back to standards (E3 cant get here soon enough)

The thing is, the new Zelda might actually be incredibly different to its predecessors.

Voice-overs might be in it....

[Madrun Badrun]

now if only Zelda could get back to standards (E3 cant get here soon enough)

The thing is, the new Zelda might actually be incredibly different to its predecessors.

Voice-overs might be in it....

lol never

[Ichirou]

Just googled Sakura Wars. Never heard of it before. I puked a little in my mouth when I saw the images.

With that avatar, I never would've figured you for one of the gays.

Learn something new every day though.

[Rman]

now if only Zelda could get back to standards (E3 cant get here soon enough)

This.

Didn't you like Twilight Princess?  I guess you're talking about the DS games.

[TripleA]

now if only Zelda could get back to standards (E3 cant get here soon enough)

The thing is, the new Zelda might actually be incredibly different to its predecessors.

Voice-overs might be in it....

lol never

Well, I guess we'll have to wait til E3 to find out.

[Himu]

now if only Zelda could get back to standards (E3 cant get here soon enough)

This.

Didn't you like Twilight Princess?  I guess you're talking about the DS games.

It seems the ds games are the direction they want to take the series, although that's probably just for the handheld entries - I hope. That said, as much as I love Twilight Princess, I wouldn't want more of that same formula. It was my goty the year it came out but it still felt like a rehash of many well known Zelda elements. I think what I want is a total reinvention. OoT is one of my favorite games ever but I'm kinda sick of each new 3d  Zelda being upgrades to the Ocarina formula, Majora's Mask aside, which is its own beast entirely.

[Himu]

Then again, I'd probably love the game to bits anyways, so who gives a fuck. I have loved every 3d console Zelda.

[maxy]

Alan Wake – 7
Lost Planet 2 – 6
Nier – 6
Skate 3 – 7
3D Dot Game Heroes – 6

Next-gen gaming annihilated.

Fallout 3 got 7 from them too.

Interesting how they like LP2,GI gave it 8.5 i think...while others are totally thrashing it...hmm

As for the Mario,Edge likes to wank around some games,Mario is one of them

[duckman2000]

Edge 10s are always fishy and/or "whimsical" in naure. Edge reviews for games scoring between 6 and 9 tend to make sense, but whenever a 10 pops up it's straight up fanboy rag stuff. Not that I doubt that SMG2 will be hot awesome.

[SantaC]

now if only Zelda could get back to standards (E3 cant get here soon enough)

The thing is, the new Zelda might actually be incredibly different to its predecessors.

Voice-overs might be in it....

Celshaded or bust.

[ferrarimanf355]

Split Second - 8

Told yall. This game is gonna be hot.

I really need to try the demo.

[Joe Molotov]

Edge 10s are always fishy and/or "whimsical" in naure. Edge reviews for games scoring between 6 and 9 tend to make sense, but whenever a 10 pops up it's straight up fanboy rag stuff. Not that I doubt that SMG2 will be hot awesome.

I thought that was supposed to be what 3D Dot Game Heroes was all about.

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

I'm excited for SMG2 but that review is slathered in fanjizz.  Kind of turned me off to the game.

[Rman]

Then again, I'd probably love the game to bits anyways, so who gives a fuck. I have loved every 3d console Zelda.

I had no interest in DS games.  They just don't seem compelling.

I'm excited for SMG2 but that review is slathered in fanjizz.  Kind of turned me off to the game.

Really? Why should that matter?  I started to enjoy gaming more when I stopped caring or reading reviews.  YouTube and demos are fine with me these days.

[TripleA]

I'm excited for SMG2 but that review is slathered in fanjizz.  Kind of turned me off to the game.

Yeah, don't buy a game because it got a 10/10 review score from an established publication.

[magus]

I'm excited for SMG2 but that review is slathered in fanjizz.  Kind of turned me off to the game.

Yeah, don't buy a game because it got a 10/10 review score from an established publication.

Yeah, buy a game because someone from an established publication jizzed all over it like a good fanboy

[Don Flamenco]

I'd be more interested in Galaxy 2 if it was on the 360.  Just seems like a better home or the game. 

[The Sceneman]

I'm excited for SMG2 but that review is slathered in fanjizz.  Kind of turned me off to the game.

Yeah, don't buy a game because it got a 10/10 review score from an established publication.

Yeah, buy a game because someone from an established publication jizzed all over it like a good fanboy

GTAIV got a 10/10, and look how that turned out! Mario Galaxy 2 will be awesome, though.

[twerd]

I'd be more interested in Galaxy 2 if it was on the 360.  Just seems like a better home or the game. 

[Don Flamenco]

I'd be more interested in Galaxy 2 if it was on the 360.  Just seems like a better home or the game. 

It's the truth.  If it were on the 360, I'd buy it.  But it's on the Wii.  So I won't.  Instead, I'll steal copies and break them, so it's minus a couple copies on NPD.

[TripleA]

I'm excited for SMG2 but that review is slathered in fanjizz.  Kind of turned me off to the game.

Yeah, don't buy a game because it got a 10/10 review score from an established publication.

Yeah, buy a game because someone from an established publication jizzed all over it like a good fanboy

Yeah, Edge are Nintendo fanboys now.

[TripleA]

I'd be more interested in Galaxy 2 if it was on the 360.  Just seems like a better home or the game. 

True, it'd be right at home with all the sub-hd games.

[maxy]

Game informer gave it 9.25...worse than first MG

GI is an established publication?No?

Maybe some established internet publication gives it 8.9...meltdowns overload

[TripleA]

True, it'd be right at home with all the sub-hd games.

indeed - if you are only going to hit 695P...

Oh you missed the memo, it's lower than 695p im afraid 

[TripleA]

Game informer gave it 9.25...worse than first MG

GI is an established publication?No?

Maybe some established internet publication gives it 8.9...meltdowns overload

I'm pretty sure a 9.25/10 is an awesome score.

Let me check common sense, brb.