SYSTEM WARS MONTHLY August Issue (Reviews, Unions, Casuals vs. Gamers, GS WIDE)

Intro - Willy105

Hello System Wars!

It is now August! That means the Summer is over, E3 is over, and the second half of the year is just about to begin. Although no big titles have come out yet (at least ones that are worth fighting for), that doesn't mean System Wars wasn't alive this month.

Actually, System Wars was pretty much dead this month.

But hey! Here comes System Wars Monthly to cheer up the place! We have reviews for No More Heroes and Soul Calibur IV, we got more articles from your favorite System Warriors, we have opinions on the new Gamespot, a new feature for unions, and we discuss the battle between Casuals and the Hardcore gamers! Sorry, no Comic this month. If you want one, do something funny.

Ninjas! There are three of them in this issue! This...is....SYSTEM WARS MONTHLY!

Weather Report - Tsug_Ze_Wind

Hello SW! I'm Tsug_Ze_Wind, and I'll be your weathersheep this evening.

Oh yeah. This is post-E3. You hear that? That's nothing, and until Too Human finally gave us something to bicker about, that was the SW topic of the month. We've gone into reruns, we've argued last-gen arguments, we've tested the limits of "Pointless or Opinionless" - anything to just do SOMETHING. Ladies and gentlemen, it is a rainy day, and we are BORED.

5.5

Too Human's 5.5 review was the only thing that caused a stir in SW, but amidst ridiculous cow comparisons to Lair and unnecessary lemming DC, some have forgotten that this game was actually not hyped much. The biggest hype it got was that it would turn out "alright," and a few zealots and optimists throwing out AA. In a normal SW month, No one would have been talking about Too Human. But like the sheep, the lemmings are suffering from a case of bored community that feels the need to throw excrement at something. For now, lemmings are sticking to XBLA for Braid.

9.5

When they're not trying to compare the flop of the gen favorably, cows are touting the PS3's lifespan for some reason. Really, it's irrelavent and it always will be. Sorry cows, but after everyone else has left the stadium, no one cares if you score a touchdown. Plus, don't you have the most to look forward to anyway right now? Maybe it's just boredom.

Unsurprisingly, sheep are still enduring the aftershock from the E3 disaster. These things tend to just go on and on for the sheep. TP wasn't let go until at least four months after the fact. Really though, something just needs to happen. We're stuck in an unpleasant time, and sheep will get the worst of it until we all move on.

THE HORROR!! (again, forgive us Subrosian)

As of now, GS Wide is corrupting our profiles. Forecast shows that the virus will soon infect the forums. Stay tuned for SW's reaction when it hits - unless GS comes to their senses in time.

Really, it's that bad.

The Frying Pan - TheEndBoss

Union of the Month Interview - Darkspineslayer

This month featuring: Kansasdude2009 and the Nintendo Dream union!

Darkspineslayer:

OK, here we have Kansasdude2009, fearless leader of the "Nintendo Dream Union" to kick off this new feature. How's everything tonight Kansas?

Kansasdude2009:

Tonight is great Darkspineslayer; I'm honored to be the first appearance in this new feature.

DSS:

We're honored to have you. Care to explain to the readers what Nintendo Dream Union (hereby referred to as NDU) is all about?

Kansas:

Nintendo Dream is all about the community. It's about having people to discuss with about the real matters of Nintendo gaming. Wii boards have their limitations, as do the DS boards. Nintendo Dream does not. Controversy is here, fan topics are here, tournaments, games, story competitions, review teams, Nintendo challenges and everything else a regular forum cannot do is here.

DSS:

Ok then Kansas. What are your goals for NDU, what do you hope to accomplish over year 2 of the unions life?

Kansas:

The same question was on our poll of the week this week. When I made Nintendo dream, I had a two year plan. Year one was to create a quality product. I needed good officers with great ideas, and I needed capitalize on those ideas. We just completed year one. Year two is all about expansion. I need to take this quality product and deliver it to the masses. My goal is to have over 1000 members by the end of year two, and to have 30 consistent posters. Fior year three, I plan to step down from my leadership and find a fresh newcomer to replace me. So, my goal is to find the best candidate to continue my work with Nintendo dream one year from now.

DSS:

Are you just looking at officers or all members of NDU for that year 3?

Kansas:

An all new member. Though it may sound shocking, one of the biggest mistakes most union leaders make is leaving their union in the hands of someone already growing board of it. It is hard work being the leader of a union. You need a fresh start.

 

DSS:

Interesting, I've heard that all your officers were handpicked and put through the ringer so to speak. How did you go about that process?

Kansas:

Yes, this was a fun process. Officers are the key to any union and my original team was scoped out by me for about a week. Later in the year I held a spring cleaning event where I had people volunteer for the position. (This is another mistake people make. Do not have people nominate, have people volunteer.) After this "spring cleaning" I was left with people ready to do their jobs willingly.

My lineup is:

Shinno441 as our union boards director. He is in charge of board activity, and keeping it alive and well fed with new and interesting topics. He also leads our excelent Review Team.

Darkgamingdude as our events organizer. He is responsible for all the extra events we hold at Nintendo Dream.

Alastah98 as the tournament organizer. He does a fantastic job of organizing our union tournaments, joint tournaments with Nintendo Revolution, and game nights.

Blackheart1889 as our graphics designer. He is the creator of our signatures, headers, union avatars and more.

Willy105 as our union advertiser. He is responsible for advertising the union to the right people. He creates commercials, comics, videos and more. He also sometimes creates new features like his upcoming Nintendo Dream EPIC.

And finally Kittykatz5k and Chazasul as our general officers. They do everything else that others can't get to.

After that I gave everyone their job descriptions and have had few issues since.

DSS:

Sounds like a good recipe for success. Now what do you consider the highlights of heading up such an ambitious union like NDU. The drawbacks?

Kansas:

The highlights are defiantly coming up with awesome ideas that I know everyone will like and then seeing them succeed. An example of this is my creation of the Nintendo Dream Summer. I created a summer story competition, and some Mii mania activities, Chazasul created his Nintendo challenges, Alastah created a tournament schedule, and there were other events as well, some of them having Wii Point prizes. Willy even advertised the entire thing. This all lead up to our anniversary on august 15th where we created a chat room for future game nights and general discussion. Seeing this all succeed along with added discussion is easily the highlight of leading Nintendo Dream.

Though with all the success, Nintendo makes it very hard to keep a Nintendo union going. Several Nintendo unions have failed because Nintendo will not give us news on any upcoming games. We have to dig deep to come up with good discussion topics. I can't stand to see a day pass where only a couple of users decide to pay a visit to Nintendo Dream.

DSS:

I guess everything has its good and bad aspects. Now if you could have one superpower...what would it be?

Kansas:

That is a very easy question to answer. If I could have one superpower, it would be the power to stop time without it affecting me or the general laws of friction and gravity.

DSS:

Final question, anything you want to shout out to Gamespot and the readers?

Kansas:

Yes. Gamespot, mark me. Your union situation as it is right now is one of the most popular features you have. Yet it also happens to be the most cumbersome. You daily make my life more difficult when I have to change the front page of my union. You make me mad when I send out a telegram and people respond wondering why I'm PMing them. I expected this to be fixed when Gamespot Wide was announced but nothing has happened yet. Please your community and fix these problems.

Nintendo Dream, you are easily the best online community I have ever come across. If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't be here. I hope you and I can continue to make Nintendo Dream into the union it is destined to be. Alastah98, you ROCK!

System Wars, you have changed so much over the years. I remember when I visited you daily, but you have been replaced by my union. I encourage everyone to join a union that you like and create new gaming communities instead of relying on the worn out ones.

Unions are the future of Gamespot.

DSS:

Thank you for your time

What did Gamespot users think of the new Gamespot? - Willy105

[QUOTE="SSCyborg"]

I like the main redesign. And the profile redesign is a lot cleaner looking, but I feel they don't show enough tracked blogs. It looks a lot cleaner and I like it.

Hewkii

Better than expected. I'm glad that the staff decided to not touch the forums, because I remember the last GameSpot overhaul in late 2005, and it was horrible. The forums became crashsville for months to follow. The site is much easier to navigate. The only thing I find "eh" is the profile. Then again, I never did care about the of the user's profile, so it's fine with me. This time, GameSpot did it for the best and I am glad about it.

Oh and, I find the game pages really spectacular, GameSpot did a great job there.

 

magiciandude

 

-Subrosian

Subrosian

Announcement: The Gamespot Forums will be getting updated in October.

Yikes! Big issue this month! Continued in next post....

And we're back!

The Back Button - Darkspineslayer

The Back Button

--------

Finding yesterdays hits...so you don't have to.

______________________________________________

Megaman Anniversary Collection

Platforms: Wii (through Gamecube BC), Xbox 360 (through Xbox emulation BC) and PS2

Retails: Aprox $5 new

Gamespot score:8.3

Megaman Anniversary Collection is simply put, a compilation of Megaman's first 8 games, and two Japan exclusives. And the games plays pretty much as you remember them; save for a few fixed glitches in the earlier games, Flicker and all.

For the not so enthusiast gamer however it offers an easy mode and an enhanced HUD that first appeared in Megaman 8 for every game. To fill up the disk capcom has crammed extras into it for completing certain objectives. The biggest difference between the versions is found here, as the gamecube version comes with an interview, the PS2 version comes with an episode of the Megaman NT Warrior cartoon, and the Xbox version comes with both. I would suggest the Xbox version here, but the other two are no lesser when it comes to whats important...the pixel perfect, "you will fail until you unfail!" gameplay!

____________________________________________________

Sonic the Hedgehog

Platforms: Wii Virtual Console and Xbox Live Marketplace

Retails: $5 on live arcade, $8 on Virtual console

Gamespot score:7.3 on VC

Sonic the Hedgehog has had a long and troubled past, and the once proud mascot that had stood with the biggest names in the industry has fallen into some sort of ditch that Sega is trying to dig him out of to little avail. However it is simple enough to revisit his humble beginnings and rise to stardom and experience the blue blur the way he was meant to be...blazing fast, out of control and solo.

The game play is simple enough. D-pad move, A to jump...now get going! The game is much more difficult than holding right and jumping one or two times however. Sonic will face lava, ice, casinos, carnivals and all that hoopla, not to mention Eggman's robots and the jolly guy in red himself...in several robotic machines

The XBLA version is recommended for saving and achievements. and I recommend anyone who has any interest in platformers to give it a try, and look around the Internet and you could find a trial for free.

Soul Calibur IV is the latest entry into Namco's premier weapon based fighting game to grace home consoles. And while the game play has undoubtedly evolved more so than the last entry, for better or worse this is very much the Soul Calibur you have all come to know. So is this a game that deserves your hard earned cash? Read on.

Soul Calibur IV is the continuing saga of two swords. A cursed sword, Soul Edge; said to hold limitless power, the Spirit sword, Soul Calibur; the polar opposite to soul edge, and the stories of the warriors hunting the swords for various beliefs and ends. While the storyline is almost always moot point in a fighting game, the story here is quite good...save a few plot holes and such, it is a cut above the story in most games of the genre.

The cast is as diverse as ever, with most of the characters ever to be in a Soul Calibur game and then some. The roster also provides what is probably the biggest difference between the two versions of the game, With Yoda and Darth Vader on the Xbox 360 and the Playstation 3 respectively. The little green guy is by far the smallest ever in a fighting game, standing a good half the size of most of the other characters. He doesn't use a lot of force powers and tends to jump around quite a bit.

Vader on the other hand is a slow and lumbering beast, using some of his epic force grabs and brutal light saber maneuvers. Both versions include the apprentice. The unnamed apprentice of Vader from the upcoming game, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. And putting an underline on the "unleashed" is something he is quite good at. He won't feel like it when you're using him, but he is quite overpowered...throwing force blasts left, right and center. Probably tossing you around like a rag doll in the process.

The sound effects are the traditional swords clashing and light saber slashing "vooo", Punctuated by decent voice acting from the characters. While none of this is the greatest...it's not something that will make you want to turn off the sound.

The graphics are nothing that will make your eyes bleed either, and they certainly could not have been done on a last generation console, so the upgrade is apparent. Textures and lighting look just fine.

Online play is quite nicely done too, if you have a Internet connection to your console and system depending, a Xbox live gold subscription, then your good to go. Lag very rarely pauses a match and your able to connect to most anywhere. Though the 360 version has an advantage with playing people from your friends list with the integrated game invites.

So all in all is Soul Calibur IV worth your money?

To be quite blunt, yes it is. With its quick and easy to pick up, yet difficult to master fighting system, and online play...it's a rather difficult game to not recommend.

8.0

Great

No More Heroes Review - TheEndBoss

No More Heroes is a unique, one-of-a-kind game and one of the few decent M-rated Wii games. I wanted to like it for those reasons, and I assume those reasons are responsible for the game's good reviews despite there being a fairly ridiculous amount of things wrong with it. Just because it's an M-rated Wii game or because it has some artistic merit doesn't mean the game's screw-ups are excusable. In short, this review is different from most of the others out there.

To start off with, the game goes wrong in the very beginning with its main character, Travis Touchdown. He's easily one of the most unlikable main characters ever created simply because his arrogance is so thick it could be cut with a knife. He displays an uncaring attitude throughout the entire game toward most characters. And considering he kills quite few of them, the question is raised: what's wrong with him? This is something the game's story never explores, and aside from several excellent plot twists the narrative is mediocre. Travis is simply trying to kill ten much more likable assassins so he can be called the best of the best. While failing to be compelling and to produce a likable main character, the story also fails to produce humor. IT seems the development team decided to rely on tasteless jokes that seem out of place and vulgar, unfunny innuendos. It's a shame, too, because at some moments No More Heroes can be deviously clever. It's a mystery why cleverness wasn't used more as opposed to failed attempts at humor.

The theme of No More Heroes' gameplay is bloody, violent killing. Travis uses a lightsab...er, beam katana to fulfill his most brutal dreams of murder along with some wrestling moves that seem useless by comparison. And as satisfying as it is to swing the Wii remote to decapitate the two (yes, there are only two) enemy types, the game quickly falls into repetition. Why? Because before every boss battle Travis has to wade through a mass of opponents who either charge at him blindly or attack from afar and run away whenever he gets too close. And odds are that 95% will be defeated in the same way: locking on with the Z button and mashing A to swing the katana. Sadistically satisfying swing of the Wii remote to finish off each opponent aside, combat is boring.

Boss battles quickly fall into a pattern of "find the opening", but they're particularly interesting because of how unique each assassin's fighting ****is. The problem, though, is not with the boss fights but what comes after them. Travis is returned to his hometown of Santa Destroy after each one, and it's an open world that makes all the fourth-rate Grand Theft Auto knock-offs feel good about themselves. Causing mayhem is what keeps open worlds fun after the initial thrill of freedom fades. Unfortunately there are few pedestrians, one ramp, Travis' motorcycle flips at the slightest collision, and the vehicle handles poorly. Without any actual fun, Santa Destroy is seen for what it really is: the terrible filler between levels to make the game longer.

Maybe that isn't quite fair, because normal jobs like mowing the lawn are strangely fun. These are undertaken at the town's job center, one of the few locations. The goal of returning to Santa Destroy is to raise enough cash to enter the next fight, which is accomplished through taking jobs. The fun, ordinary jobs pay decently but not well enough, forcing the higher-paying assassination missions to be played. Unfortunately, they're all repetitive garbage that are all very similar to one another.

But maybe I'm going at this all wrong. Maybe No More Heroes isn't meant to be a polished, well-crafted game. Maybe it's meant to be a messy, thrown-together experience. But then again, what's the point in playing a game like that?

No More Heroes isn't all bad, though. In its own disastrous way, the game is actually a little fun (combat, that is, not the open world). And because of how strange the whole thing is, the game is worth seeing through to the very end. It's a bit like a train wreck: disastrous yet strangely compelling. And with all these good reviews by the gaming community, maybe some people can find it in themselves to overlook the tragic flaws.

6.5

Fair

And we are back!

System Wars: The Game - Willy105

If you haven't played System Wars: The Game, it's still not too late!

You can download the game over at Gamespot Games.

The bitter divide between Casual and Hardcore - Gingerdivid

Recently, it seems that a new consensus has emerged; certain vocal corners of the gaming community imagine the recent influx of "casual" games to be a new and mysterious avenue in our established industry. Ever since the Wii became a storming success, and ever since a rather controversial E3 conference, many individuals believe that an apocalypse is imminent. However, this notion is misguided at best. As this vision of twin industries in constant opposition is an illusion

Firstly though, what exactly is a casual gamer? It's odd that such a common term has no established definition. Is it someone who just plays games for fun? For a distraction in between other pursuits? If this is the case, have we not all been similar at one point in time? So why exactly, are casuals painted as demonic invaders, invading an industry, which was once serene in it's "hardcore" glory?

Look at it this way, gaming's collective growth is due to accessible gaming. The truth is, *brace yourselves* casual gamers were here first. When you look, impartially, at the span of gaming history it's the "hardcore's" that stand out as a cultural anomaly, in a similar manner to how Essex stands out culturally compared to the rest of England (with it's plethora of kebab shops). This is a change that has only occurred recently as games were able to become more coherent in both structure and narrative. Yet, due to the hardcore demographic's outspoken nature, the new common perception is that the gaming landscape was crafted with the hardcore players in mind.

Historically casual gaming (I prefer "accessible gaming") has always had a beneficial effect on our industry, not a detrimental one, and it's always been here. Take a look back to what started gaming, and look more recently at the games that have facilitated it's evolutionary growth. The early arcade games (like Asteroids, Space Invaders) were accessible and popular, but yet they were harder than most games today. Yet nobody said anything about those games being hardcore, whilst players feverishly anticipated the next opportunity beat their high-scores. Throughout the 80s and into the 90s, gaming remained a fun hobby. While the suppressive limits of technology clearly played a part, games were accessible, not simplistic, with developers able to focus their attention on well-defined gameplay goals rather than trying to appeal to different crowds. Gaming has always had that certain appeal, it was built on that appeal, recently however, it's been lost. But now it's coming back.

In light of this then, it's clear that "Hardcore" has nothing to do with difficulty and everything to do with accessibility. "Casual" gaming is part of normal gaming, it's always been that way and it's key for the future. Publishers are never going to stop producing first-person shooters and RPGs to fund development of mini game compilations. All that's happening is that the average joe's on the high street have been reminded that games can be accessible and fun. There is a possibility that they'll go on to buy more consoles, and they'll buy more games. Yes, a lot of the time they won't buy the best games, if say, 50 Cent Bulletproof is any indication, but it's important to remember that these games are poor because they're bad games, not because they're casual games. Should we not celebrate how vast the industry has become and welcome these "casual" gamers to the party? Why can't we all condone diversity and rejoice amidst the rapid growth of the industry?

The values of playability and accessibility are all making a comeback alongside the recent development of more ambitious games that we see on XBLA, PSN, WiiWare and in the thriving PC indie scene. look at games like Lost Winds, Braid, Everyday Shooter, PixelJunk Eden, Facade, Crayon Physics Deluxe, Masq, Chalk and Audiosurf. Look at the recent reemergence of the dual analogue shooters, with games like Geo Wars 1-2 and Superstardust HD. Look at the imminent comeback of Adventure games, with legendary developers like Jane Jensen coming back (with Gray Matter, specifically), alongside Sam and Max, Mata Hari, So Blonde and Vamprye Story. Looking further, see how the 2D shooters and Adventure games coincide with my point about accessibility? These cla$$ic genres are coming back as the tides of the gaming industry are changing, these genres were actively held to scrutiny as they had relatively simplistic designs compared to the other flashier genres. However, in today's industry, they are becoming relevant again, and that is surely a good thing right? Is this not an example of how an expanded audience can help the industry?

So what about those other genres, you know, the genres that aren't inherently accessible, how are they doing? Are they now forgotten? Well, for starters, Epic WRPG's are still popular, with many big releases coming soon, Bioware are actually returning to their old formula with Dragon Age, rather than abandoning it. RTS's are still strong, big hitters like Starcraft 2, Demigod and Empire: Total War are impending, and Dawn of War 2 has found a way to be accessible whilst appealing to the conventional RTS crowd, so if anything, it could expand. The fighting genre could potentially make a comeback if you look at the upcoming releases, with the return of Street Fighter and a new Tekken (which has broken records in Japanese arcades). Oh, and look at the recently released SC IV (which incidentally has been reviewed in this very issue), it has broken records for the series, being the fastest seller out of the lot. Also, the simulators on the PC are showing no signs of damage, with a spiritual successor to IL2 on the cards. So on this side then, there is absolutely no change, if anything there's growth so what exactly is all the fuss about, what has stemmed this irrational fear? There are no visible scratches on the "hardcore" or niche genres, there's just now, more diversity in the industry.

So finally, in summation, there is no real, or true divide, there is only casual-phobia. The notion that casual gamers are bad for the industry is clearly misguided one, which is divorced from reality. Anybody with a grasp of gaming history, or somebody who's open minded can see it.

I played golden eye not too long ago, it showed it age but it is still not a bad gaemmi do remember al the god time i had when playing it. I would love it to come to x-box live aracde but i dout it will happern.

Also i would love to see another system wars game based on this generation, a lot has happened this generation, like nintendos come back in sales by targeting casual gamers,lots of games on PS getting ported to the 360,a bunch of flop, and a lot more

Those reviews could use some work.

Soul Calibur IV:

• Could've had more descriptions of changes from the last SoulCalibur like the finishers for example or the updated character creation tool to make it more clear to those that played previous games in the series if it's essentially the same game or an improvement.
• The overview of the guest characters could've used some more work, especially with Yoda and what Yoda's small size means for those that skim through reviews (Cannot be grabbed by anyone except Nightmare and even then, only one grab works, high attacks are essentially useless unless Yoda's in mid-air, etc.)
• Music production is something that most people don't care about...But I do, and that was noticeably missing.

And more to come if something comes up...

No More Heroes:

• There are more than two enemy types mind you: beam katana wielders, bare-fisted that occassionally throw baseballs, conventional weapons wielders, pistol wielders, and machine gun wielders, but yes I agree there could've been more.
• Could've mentioned how the high/low and battery system came into play until you received Tsubaki Mk II and Mk III for each respective system. The unarmed attacks could've used better mention of why they're useless because I found them to be useful even after I got Tsubaki Mk III.
• Could use an overview for those that aren't familiar with the game.
• Music could have a mention.
• Could've done a better job of describing how the assassination missions were repetitive.
• RPG mechanics got no mention at all.

And more to come if something comes up...

Also...No comic!?

You guys put so much work into these... great job.

I especially liked the casual gaming article.

good stuff:) no comic?:|

and I hate GS WIDE

No Comic?

:? :( :cry:

my review:

the good: Ginger's article was spot on

the bad: No comic...not many lulz :(

great issue willy, i especily found the new "back button" and union interwiews informative! :D

wait...

...comic :(. And i couldn't figure out how to start System Wars the game. I swear when i unzipped it i got like 30 files on my desktop and i couldn't find the actual game.nintendoman562

Once you download the file, click setup. Ignore all the ?????????????????????? letters!

Just say where you want to install the game and click the button left ???????? button!

And there you go!

No More Heroes:

• There are more than two enemy types mind you: beam katana wielders, bare-fisted that occassionally throw baseballs, conventional weapons wielders, pistol wielders, and machine gun wielders, but yes I agree there could've been more.
• Could've mentioned how the high/low and battery system came into play until you received Tsubaki Mk II and Mk III for each respective system. The unarmed attacks could've used better mention of why they're useless because I found them to be useful even after I got Tsubaki Mk III.
• Could use an overview for those that aren't familiar with the game.
• Music could have a mention.
• Could've done a better job of describing how the assassination missions were repetitive.
• RPG mechanics got no mention at all.

Technoweirdo

The No More Heroes review was intended for people who had already played the game or read other reviews of it. It wasn't intended to go into large amounts of detail, either, since I personally don't enjoy reading enormous walls of text that go into every little detail of the game. Anyway, here goes:

First Point- While you do have a point, at its most basic there still are only two enemy types, ranged and melee. They only really only differed in the fine details, which was what they were carrying. This usually affected how much damage they could take and deal. In short, they were still all too similar for my tastes, so I felt there really were only two enemy types.

Second Point- I never typed up the second draft for this review, due to how busy I have been over the past few days. But it did address the high/low part, in saying that it was there to give the illusion of depth and that the game could easily be completed without ever using it. The battery system wasn't mentioned in order to keep the review rather short, and in that it really isn't a "system" at all since it just basically means the lightsaber will run out of a charge. Sort of like saying a gun will run out of bullets and need to be reloaded, although in a longer review I would have mentioned it considering the whole running out of batteries concept isn't exactly common knowledge. And I do agree with you that I probably should have stated why wrestling moves are useless, and I would have said the same as I would have with high/low attacks: they're not required. Dedicated button mashing gets the job done just as well.

Third Point- See paragraph above "First Point".

Fourth Point- I decided to focus only on the gameplay, which is why I didn't give a mention to the music or the graphics.

Fifth Point- Indeed.

Sixth Point- This review was written long after I played the game, so this totally slipped my mind. But I most likely would have c1assified it under the same heading as what I said about wrestling moves and high/low attacks.

I appreciate this criticism, and hopefully it will help me write a better review for the next issue.

Those reviews could use some work.

Soul Calibur IV:

• Could've had more descriptions of changes from the last SoulCalibur like the finishers for example or the updated character creation tool to make it more clear to those that played previous games in the series if it's essentially the same game or an improvement.
• The overview of the guest characters could've used some more work, especially with Yoda and what Yoda's small size means for those that skim through reviews (Cannot be grabbed by anyone except Nightmare and even then, only one grab works, high attacks are essentially useless unless Yoda's in mid-air, etc.)
• Music production is something that most people don't care about...But I do, and that was noticeably missing.

And more to come if something comes up...

Technoweirdo

i agree with most of your points now that i think about it. rewiew will be less messy next month

Where's the comic? :(Hoobinator

Well, not speaking for Willy105, but it's been a pretty slow month for System Wars. Even Too Human didn't do much for this month. Not one ":lol::lol::lol: Z0MG 73h fl0PZ0RZ" from it since it flopping was pretty much expected by everybody when the reviews started coming in, some way before the reviews.

[QUOTE="Hoobinator"]Where's the comic? :(Technoweirdo

Well, not speaking for Willy105, but it's been a pretty slow month for System Wars. Even Too Human didn't do much for this month. Not one ":lol::lol::lol: Z0MG 73h fl0PZ0RZ" from it since it flopping was pretty much expected by everybody when the reviews started coming in, some way before the reviews.

yeah, it was fairly dry this month for all of us, Tsug barely had a weather report before too human.

to be honest, you want a comic than lets see some action. we all did our best this month, and the issue is a rather large, more informitave issue than in the past.

he proves a good point about the casual hardcore thing :|

i still liked it when videogames were isolated from mainstream :(

I'm a little sad about the SW game.

I didn't get to start as a lemming. :(

Wow August Issue sucked...and I loved that whole Too Human damage control Tsug_Ze_Wind was spewing out...face it the game was hyped as an 08 hit for the 360 and it flopped horribly.W1NGMAN-

Face it, it wasn't. You just want to continue the fight.

[QUOTE="W1NGMAN-"]Wow August Issue sucked...and I loved that whole Too Human damage control Tsug_Ze_Wind was spewing out...face it the game was hyped as an 08 hit for the 360 and it flopped horribly.Willy105

Face it, it wasn't. You just want to continue the fight.

Not really I just want to end all this denial and damage control, it's pretty annoying. The game was hyped AA, was listed in every single 08 360 lineup list and then flopped horribly.

[QUOTE="Willy105"]

[QUOTE="W1NGMAN-"]Wow August Issue sucked...and I loved that whole Too Human damage control Tsug_Ze_Wind was spewing out...face it the game was hyped as an 08 hit for the 360 and it flopped horribly.W1NGMAN-

Face it, it wasn't. You just want to continue the fight.

Not really I just want to end all this denial and damage control, it's pretty annoying. The game was hyped AA, was listed in every single 08 360 lineup list and then flopped horribly.

A game that was hyped AA and then flops doesn't deserve the same level of attack that a AAA hyped game that failed deserves. Too Human was NOT that big of a flop. A flop, but not something to start fighting about.

[QUOTE="W1NGMAN-"][QUOTE="Willy105"]

[QUOTE="W1NGMAN-"]Wow August Issue sucked...and I loved that whole Too Human damage control Tsug_Ze_Wind was spewing out...face it the game was hyped as an 08 hit for the 360 and it flopped horribly.Willy105

Face it, it wasn't. You just want to continue the fight.

Not really I just want to end all this denial and damage control, it's pretty annoying. The game was hyped AA, was listed in every single 08 360 lineup list and then flopped horribly.

A game that was hyped AA and then flops doesn't deserve the same level of attack that a AAA hyped game that failed deserves. Too Human was NOT that big of a flop. A flop, but not something to start fighting about.

No you mean a game that is hyped AA and scores say a 7.0 or 7.5 shouldn't deserve too much attack but when a game is hyped AA and scores a freakin 5.5.....well....let the attacking begin.

[QUOTE="Willy105"][QUOTE="W1NGMAN-"][QUOTE="Willy105"]

[QUOTE="W1NGMAN-"]Wow August Issue sucked...and I loved that whole Too Human damage control Tsug_Ze_Wind was spewing out...face it the game was hyped as an 08 hit for the 360 and it flopped horribly.W1NGMAN-

Face it, it wasn't. You just want to continue the fight.

Not really I just want to end all this denial and damage control, it's pretty annoying. The game was hyped AA, was listed in every single 08 360 lineup list and then flopped horribly.

A game that was hyped AA and then flops doesn't deserve the same level of attack that a AAA hyped game that failed deserves. Too Human was NOT that big of a flop. A flop, but not something to start fighting about.

No you mean a game that is hyped AA and scores say a 7.0 or 7.5 shouldn't deserve too much attack but when a game is hyped AA and scores a freakin 5.5.....well....let the attacking begin.

VanOrd has flopped every major 360 exclusive he's gotten his hands on, and now he's reviewing ToV.

Let's see if the trend continues.

No comic? Pfft. That's the best part of System Wars Monthly.

Anyway this was an informative issue I guess but there were no lulz. :(

Someone please remind Tsug_Ze_Wind not to put his personal opinions in the weather report.Okay,he doesn't like the new design,wasn't it enough that he had his opinion in the section designed just for that purpose?He doesn't need to scream "NEW DESIGN SUCKS!!!!!!" on the front page.:?789shadow

its his weather report, he can (and probably will) continue to say what he likes in it...you act like this is a serious buisness mag :?

Someone please remind Tsug_Ze_Wind not to put his personal opinions in the weather report.Okay,he doesn't like the new design,wasn't it enough that he had his opinion in the section designed just for that purpose?He doesn't need to scream "NEW DESIGN SUCKS!!!!!!" on the front page.:?789shadow

I was asked for my opinion, and I decided to extend it a bit into my report. Seeing as I'm almost the lone dissenter I have to be as loud as possible. ;)

Plus, that was my honest prediction. I think you'll see a huge backlash in SW over the forums change. People might like it on the main page, but when the look of the forums is the reason for a lot of people to use this site, it'll be hard not to screw that up, especially when you've got that whole it-looks-like-thousands-of-other-gaming-sites-with-less-strict-boards thing going on.

Wow August Issue sucked...and I loved that whole Too Human damage control Tsug_Ze_Wind was spewing out...face it the game was hyped as an 08 hit for the 360 and it flopped horribly.W1NGMAN-

It was hyped as an '08 hit...in '07. Things change, and recently the most hype Too Human got from posters not named Bioshockownz or Subrosian was "It'll turn out alright."

It was a flop...but a tame one that wouldn't have reached a 2000-post discussion in a more exciting month.

[QUOTE="W1NGMAN-"]Wow August Issue sucked...and I loved that whole Too Human damage control Tsug_Ze_Wind was spewing out...face it the game was hyped as an 08 hit for the 360 and it flopped horribly.Tsug_Ze_Wind

It was hyped as an '08 hit...in '07. Things change, and recently the most hype Too Human got from posters not named Bioshockownz or Subrosian was "It'll turn out alright."

It was a flop...but a tame one that wouldn't have reached a 2000-post discussion in a more exciting month.

(no offense to them)

[QUOTE="W1NGMAN-"]Wow August Issue sucked...and I loved that whole Too Human damage control Tsug_Ze_Wind was spewing out...face it the game was hyped as an 08 hit for the 360 and it flopped horribly.Tsug_Ze_Wind

It was hyped as an '08 hit...in '07. Things change, and recently the most hype Too Human got from posters not named Bioshockownz or Subrosian was "It'll turn out alright."

It was a flop...but a tame one that wouldn't have reached a 2000-post discussion in a more exciting month.

Not to mention the thread would have been alot shorter if Vandalvideo didn't spend 20 page ranting about how the reviewer didn't compare the game to anything so the review wasn't credible.

43 posts? Yea I think it's time to unsticky this Issue.W1NGMAN-

You see, with magazines, people read them. It's not a huge discussion topic. If you have problems with the issue, then you don't have to read the issue or post undermining comments in this thread.

I've never read a System Wars comic but c'mon, the whole 'Series' saga is prime material :)angelkimne

Quite so.

wait the forums are going wide too?:shock: OMFG!! i love the setup on GS's forums, its the reason i still come here.:? oh wellz. *Signs up for neoGAF, waits for activation for some lulz*

EDIT:and when i mean 'love' i mean it's the best forum in all of the interwebz!!!!!111111!!!

hopefully they will give a source code for other forums to to look and act like the GS forums,but in different colours.

I think we now know the importance of the comic.

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So next time we'll have two! Right Willy? :P