The definitive Space Giraffe thread

Alarm · Post by **Alarm** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 2:11 pm 0

How did you find it? I assume you already had a link for it, as it isn't in the reviews section. I had a cursory look to see where I could find back issues to no avail.

HGFB · Post by **HGFB** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 2:11 pm 0

Google.

Alarm · Post by **Alarm** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 2:13 pm 0

hyphz · Post by **hyphz** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 2:28 pm 0

This is exactly why the standard review model doesn't work with Indie games.

Sure, SG is quirky and unusual. Sure, it's a "zone game" and those aren't that common any more, and can kind of mess with the way some people choose to play (you can't lean back with your friend, chug a beer, and go, 'hey, look at that guy in bits and on fire' when you're deep into an abstract Zone). And sure, some people aren't going to like SG.

But one of the games I enjoy best is DROD. It's a game that lots of people absolutely hate; they call it a bad RPG clone with squashed-fly graphics and features added at a glacial pace. I call it an intriuging puzzle game where many of the features have so much detail and so many consequences to them it takes that long to explore them all.

But that's OK, because it's published as a indie game, and so people who don't like it tend just not to mention it. Even the mainstream magazines just run "best of indie" columns, nothing about what's bad. People who want to try out the demo can.

But when you use the classic review model.. you get crap like this, where one person doesn't like a game and then because they are in a particular position, drop a bomb on it.

I'm very sorry to hear this happened.. but I hope and expect that people will still be prepared to download the demo and play it for themselves to find out.

zip accident · Post by **zip accident** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 2:32 pm 0

HGFB wrote:

Not at the moment. It's an early subscriber copy and nobody seems to have posted a scan yet. The original thread this came from was full of people wanting to know what new info it had about Halo 3 and very little else.

A day later there are still no signs of other subscribers getting copies? How odd.

HGFB · Post by **HGFB** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 2:35 pm 0

zip accident wrote:
HGFB wrote:

Not at the moment. It's an early subscriber copy and nobody seems to have posted a scan yet. The original thread this came from was full of people wanting to know what new info it had about Halo 3 and very little else.
A day later there are still no signs of other subscribers getting copies? How odd.

Most of them will still be busy wanking over the Halo 3 article and complaining that they didn't review Bioshock. I doubt the average reader of OXM was much interested in SG to start with.

zip accident · Post by **zip accident** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 2:40 pm 0

HGFB wrote:

zip accident wrote:
HGFB wrote:

Not at the moment. It's an early subscriber copy and nobody seems to have posted a scan yet. The original thread this came from was full of people wanting to know what new info it had about Halo 3 and very little else.
A day later there are still no signs of other subscribers getting copies? How odd.
Most of them will still be busy wanking over the Halo 3 article and complaining that they didn't review Bioshock. I doubt the average reader of OXM was much interested in SG to start with.

Maybe so, but you'd think that one of them would have said something, probably about Halo3, not that I'd know where to look for that sort of thing.

HGFB · Post by **HGFB** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 2:43 pm 0

That's the thing. As far as I can tell nobody has reported on the contents of the mag at all (Apart from one comment on the SA forums that gave some details about the SG review). The guy who posted the scores in the first place hasn't seen the mag and nobody else has stepped forward with "OMG. LUK AT TEH HALO3 SCANZ!"

Darkflame · Post by **Darkflame** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 2:46 pm 0

This is exactly why the standard review model doesn't work with Indie games.

Dosnt work with any games, its only the most noticable with Indie stuff.

HGFB · Post by **HGFB** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 2:50 pm 0

The OXM info seems to have originated in this thread

http://forums.xbox.com/14685782/ShowPost.aspx

Justino · Post by **Justino** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 2:52 pm 0

I think its fair to say that the look and sound of it are going to be an acquired taste. For me the KLF 'moo moo' sample gives it the impression of an Amiga PD Demo from years back if you're talking audio cues

Taking Amiga as a cue - look at Super Stardust - that manages to do the heavy colours and intensity in a way that seems current. SG looks and sounds like an old game.

Stevo · Post by **Stevo** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 2:58 pm 0

Fuck.....I just spent the last hour and a half reading this thread

The conclusion I have come to is that 2/10 is a bit harsh....

The reviewer is a buttmonkey. If you are going to review a game
you should at least play it for a few hours.

Dont worry Giles and Yak....Karma will get him

kalmar · Post by **kalmar** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 2:58 pm 0

Justino wrote:I think its fair to say that the look and sound of it are going to be an acquired taste.

I don't agree with that. I was grinning like a loon the first time I watched one of the videos, largely due to the mad SFX and music. The fact that I recognise many of the samples is a bonus, not a negative thing.

In fact if you don't like it up front, that kind of thing is not going to grow on you at all, I would think.

What it's like to play and experience for real in front of a big screen, I can't say as I've not tried it.

The Captain · Post by **The Captain** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 3:02 pm 0

Justino wrote: SG looks and sounds like an old game.

But that's the point, rather than an oversight. This is a bit like criticising Hot Fuzz for being like a load of old buddy-buddy action movies. SG looks like a modern and intelligent take on 'retro' conventions. It takes as a given that there is a certain style to older games and effects, rather than just being the limitations of technology. Much as a filmmaker might choose to make film in black and white, or a musician to record an album on analogue equipment with real instruments.

No, some people aren't going to get it, but that's their lookout, not Lllamasoft's error.

I don't think anyone that plays SG and likes it is going to sit there thinking 'if only it looked and sounded a bit more modern'.

PS: Stardust is as dull as feck.

Sir_LANs-a-lot · Post by **Sir_LANs-a-lot** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 3:06 pm 0

I really like Super Stardust HD. It is not 'dull'.

So there.