IGN review of Saints Row 2 Audited

[VIAN]

I've gone through GTA vs Saint's Row before, so I'm not going to do that here. Instead I'm going to point out, as many of you probably already know, the crap that IGN still is.

The author said some things about GTA4 that made me think twice. How is GTA4 a small game?! He also says GTA is known for detail. That is arguable. I think the only detailed GTA was part IV. Previous GTAs may have been limited by the PS2, but then... well, it certainly doesn't match my definition of detailed.

Now I'll talk about what the author says about Saint's Row 2 itself. He appears to be bashing Saint's Row 2 for being over the top and non-realistic, although he also says it is fine because its not a GTAIV clone. Melee combat is functional, but he nitpicks on how the animation could have been better, never mind the fact that you actually get to beat people with a wheelchair. Just about the only thing I agree with him is that the graphics probably could have been better.

In the end he says, the entire game is just fun! Yet despite all this greatness, he still sees fit to give the game an 8.0. I just don't get the logic here. In comparison, GTA4 was given a 10 even though the reviewer says the singleplayer wasn't that great. He based his whole score on graphics and multiplayer. He even says he would probably pay $300 for the game.

Ah, what's the point...

 

[biggestmuff]

They are paid to write a warm and fuzzy review. They are driven by their advertisers.

 

[skace]

Originally posted by: VIAN
In the end he says, the entire game is just fun! Yet despite all this greatness, he still sees fit to give the game an 8.0. I just don't get the logic here. In comparison, GTA4 was given a 10 even though the reviewer says the singleplayer wasn't that great. He based his whole score on graphics and multiplayer. He even says he would probably pay $300 for the game.

I'm not sure GTA4 deserved a 10, but I'd be completely surprised to see Saints Row 2 earn a 10.

 

[R Nilla]

Originally posted by: skace

Originally posted by: VIAN
In the end he says, the entire game is just fun! Yet despite all this greatness, he still sees fit to give the game an 8.0. I just don't get the logic here. In comparison, GTA4 was given a 10 even though the reviewer says the singleplayer wasn't that great. He based his whole score on graphics and multiplayer. He even says he would probably pay $300 for the game.

I'm not sure GTA4 deserved a 10, but I'd be completely surprised to see Saints Row 2 earn a 10.

It looks like the voice acting and narrative also garnered a big score for GTA IV from IGN, whereas if Saints Row 2 is anything like the first in this regard, it's probably pretty mediocre. Sure, Saints Row had some recognizable talent for the voice acting, but most of the story and dialogue was pretty cheesy and laughably bad (granted, to some extent that's the point).

What I find amusing is the comment on the Sound:

Sound
Songs play a bit too often on the radio but there?s a good selection of stations to pick from. Voice acting is very good and effectively pushes the plot.

I feel like I heard the same three songs over and over again in GTA IV. There were only a few stations I liked, but it seemed like each one started with the same song every time I sat down to play. That got really old, really fast. I felt like the stations were a lot less substantial than what we heard in GTA:SA and GTA:VC.

 

[warcrow]

Look--there are going to be some people out there that are going to get SR2 and some that just will not. It's suppose to be over the top, crazy and just all around fun--hence the wacky advertising campaign characters.

I have seen some of the cutscenes in the game and they're of better quality than I anticipated, but I don't think THQ was really going toe-to-toe with GTAIV on that front either.

Hey, it's ok to love both games for different reasons guys.

 

[erwos]

An 8 is a respectable score. GTA4 really did push the envelope on a lot of stuff (albeit, in retrospect, I'm not sure it deserved a 10).

I wouldn't think twice about picking up a game with a score of 8 if I was a fan of the genre.

 

[AstroManLuca]

Don't look at numbers. They're all just made up BS.

 

[nakedfrog]

Originally posted by: skace

Originally posted by: VIAN
In the end he says, the entire game is just fun! Yet despite all this greatness, he still sees fit to give the game an 8.0. I just don't get the logic here. In comparison, GTA4 was given a 10 even though the reviewer says the singleplayer wasn't that great. He based his whole score on graphics and multiplayer. He even says he would probably pay $300 for the game.

I'm not sure GTA4 deserved a 10, but I'd be completely surprised to see Saints Row 2 earn a 10.

Looking at the Metacritic review blurbs, it's strange... so many 100s mention problems, or say things like "It's not flawless"
I don't see how it would warrant a 10 if you don't think it's flawless

 

[nboy22]

I have been playing Saint's Row 2 now for the past week and a half. It's extremely fun and the modes/activities that I particularly like are property damage, and insurance fraud. (I'm not sure if they included insurance fraud in SR2, but I know they had it in the original SR.

The game is over the top, not meant to be a GTA Clone, and it is FUN. I would recommend the game but I will also discuss the bad parts.

Sometimes when I hit people with weapons in a melee attack, there is no noise made. I certainly thing if I whacked someone upside the head with a roadsign I would hear a loud *TWANG* much like in postal 2 when you hit someone with a shovel. The animation does have some bugs, where the character seems to be floating in place while doing the jig. BTW, the jig is just one of the taunts you can customize your character with. So far I have not experienced any weird dissappearing of the world, where the world at one part disappears, and then reappears when you travel further into that new territory. This happened to me in SR1 quite frequently.

Overall I would give the game somewhere around an 8.5. I believe the animation and noises could use a little refining, but other than that the game is really fun and has some creative ideas to keep your interest.

 

[RandomFool]

Reviews are for the most part broken. Objective reviews don't bring in the advertising revenue and cause people to complain that the reviewer is biased against the game. Big AAA games like GTA4, Halo 3 and even Smash Bros Brawl always get a bonus point or two even if they've got problems. All of those games are good games and I've had a ton of fun with them but none of them are near perfect and I wouldn't call them 10s, maybe 9.0... maybe

Smaller games with less hype always seem to get more realistic reviews which makes them look terrible compared to a AAA game of the same quality. Based on those comments SR2 sounds like it deserves an 8.

IMO, it's all about how much fun you have playing the game. I've had a lot of fun playing games that weren't considered to be very good.

 

[R Nilla]

Originally posted by: nakedfrog
Looking at the Metacritic review blurbs, it's strange... so many 100s mention problems, or say things like "It's not flawless"
I don't see how it would warrant a 10 if you don't think it's flawless

I don't know about the other reviews, but IGN had an explanation for their rating of 10:

A 10 doesn't mean a game is perfect -- it means a game is pushing boundaries, expanding a genre, and doing many things to a level so far above and beyond its competitors that they overshadows any flaws.

I think it's silly to think games don't deserve a 10 because they might have some bugs or flaws. There will always be bugs, and I think it's safe to say games will always have flaws, if only minor. Otherwise the score of 10 can never, and will never, be achieved by any game, no matter how great it is.

What really matters is if the flaws significantly detract from the overall experience.

Now whether or not you agree with IGN's (or any other publication's) assessment of GTA IV based on the criteria they've specified is a different story...

 

[blurredvision]

IGN's score of a game shouldn't detract your enjoyment of it. If it does, then something is wrong...

 

[ric1287]

I'm more excited for this game than i was for GTA 4. It has full co-op play right?

 

[R Nilla]

Originally posted by: ric1287
I'm more excited for this game than i was for GTA 4. It has full co-op play right?

:thumbsup: Indeed it does. That's a big plus in my book.

 

[ric1287]

Originally posted by: R Nilla

Originally posted by: ric1287
I'm more excited for this game than i was for GTA 4. It has full co-op play right?

:thumbsup: Indeed it does. That's a big plus in my book.

awesome. That was the one of the big things missing from GTA. Co-op and a non-retarded party system.

 

[nboy22]

Here's a little video my room mate and I made of jumping off a cliff in Saint's Row 2

JUMP!

This was my first time, original intent was to commit suicide from a large fall.

 

[gorcorps]

So IGN posted a review, then VIAN decides to post a review on the review. And many of these posts are reviews of VIAN's review review. We're too damn review happy, let's try thinking for ourselves again.

 

[Stuxnet]

I stopped giving a shit about game reviews after all the major outlets gave GTA IV - a game with horrendous flaws - 10's across the board.

 

[bucwylde23]

Saints Row 1 was fun for me. I'm in for SR2 definitely.
I don't care what any reviews say as I generally disagree anyways.
I thought GTAIV was way way overhyped. Played it for a couple weeks then went back to COD4.

 

[coldmeat]

I wasn't in a real rush to pick this game up until my xbox died, and now I want to play this game real bad. I wasn't too interested in using my xbox until it broke, now I can't wait for it to be fixed.

 

[biggestmuff]

I'll get this at some point; just not interested in a sandbox game right now. I had a blast with the first one. I picked it up after the disappointing and over-hyped GTAIV.

 

[Oyeve]

If he means GTA4 is small as in acreage then yes, it's small compared to San Andreas. But if the game is good that whouldnt be an issue. I enjoyed GTA4 but not as much as previous versions, better graphics or not, it just doesnt want to make keep comong back to it. I am looking forward to SR2 as I enjoyed the first one.

 

[ponyo]

Ad dollars are shrinking right now. Expect to see scores up across the board as sites fight for the shrinking ad dollars.

 

[mugs]

So far the reviews for Saints Row 2 are about 3% higher than for Saints Row. Saints Row probably got better reviews than it deserved because it came at the beginning of the generation, but as long as they've dealt with the flaws in Saints Row I think the reviews that Saints Row 2 is getting are probably deserved.