Reviews!

[fco.]

It's half an hour before the game gets released and reviews are starting to surface. Here's one by the famous Mix n' Mojo (http://www.mixnmojo.com/features/read.php?article=sb11).

I'd love to read it, but access to said website is blocked for me at work. For the same reason I don't know if it have spoilers or not, so go there at your own risk. It looks like it's a positive one, though.

Anyway, let's post here other reviews we find.

[Shambling Corporate Poster]

it got 4.5/5! Or is that just a 4/5... anyways, seems like the guy liked it... YAY!

[Sweeney252]

2 seconds.

[Sweeney252]

Its 12 pm EST now.

[Luigi]

It's basically whatever they saw in the movie demo :P

[Jake]

Many gaming sites got advance copies of the PC version so they could have reviews up. :)

Here are a few more mentions I've found scattered around:

http://adventuregamers.com/article/id,904/
http://blog.wired.com/games/2008/08/review-strong-b.html
http://www.gamecyte.com/2008/08/11/review-strong-bads-cool-game-for-attractive-people-homestar-ruiner/2695
http://vooks.net/modules.php?module=reviews&id=251
http://www.gamezine.co.uk/reviews/game-types/adventure-games/strong-bad%E2%80%99s-cool-game-attractive-people-%E2%80%93-episode-1-homestar-ruiner-review-pc--$1235827.htm

[jared25]

Strong bad cant hardly read and the humor is just lame. a plant that comited suicide. racial steriotypes about the french. pirated software. wakes up in a bad mood because he slept on his remote. and i havent even wanted to finish the tutorial but i did..? just tell me it gets worse from here. is the game suposed to be funny at all?:confused:

[MarkDarin]

is the game suposed to be funny at all?:confused:

No, not really. Well, not to you.

[matan]

wiifanboy.com gave the game 8.5/10.
Review at:
http://www.nintendowiifanboy.com/2008/08/11/wii-fanboy-review-strong-bad-episode-1-homestar-ruiner/

I downloaded the game for wiiware. I played the tutorial, but I have an exam tomorrow, so I'll have to postpone playing it to tomorrow :)

[StrongMatt]

I have to say from the demo I played:

Pros:
- Hilarious, about 20 minutes in.
- Interesting/New Graphics.
- Great Gags.
- Tons of stuff to dress up in.

Cons:
- I felt a bit dissapointed at the start, thinking that I had made the wrong choice investing, but I hadn't.
- The eyes of all the characters dissapaered about half way through, for an unknown reason, but I was playing the demo, so I wouldn't be suprised if it was the demo, or my "Lappy".

A great demo!
9/10 - Demo
Most Likely 10/10 - Full Version on Wii

[Tester Scott]

- The eyes of all the characters dissapaered about half way through, for an unknown reason, but I was playing the demo, so I wouldn't be suprised if it was the demo, or my "Lappy".


The eye thing is usually caused by DirectX not being up to date.

[Sterrance]

I really hate it how some of these critics keep referring to The Cheat as a Pikachu rip off. What's next, call Jigglypuff a Kirby rip off? So they are both yellow and small. The Cheat is totally different.

[BadStrong]

Well, I know where not to look for video game reviews in the future. Gamespot review. (http://www.gamespot.com/pc/adventure/strongbadscoolgameforattractivepeople/review.html?om_act=convert&om_clk=multimodule&tag=multimodule;picks;img;1)

The picture caption even says that Homestar is talking to his agent... did they even play the game?

[bpgisme]

The eye thing is usually caused by DirectX not being up to date.

Hmm, ironic you would say that. When I downloaded and installed the game it updated my DirectX to some newer version and the eyes disappeared in the "extended play" part only in the house of Strong. Once at the KOT's Strong Mad's mouth disappeared too. That was the only time I had any trouble though and otherwise I LOVE the game!!!! :)

Now to get back in there and try doing Teen Girl Squad again! :D

By the way, the photo booth/closet thing? That to me is just so Sam and Max! :D

[Katana]

Developer Telltale Games really missed the boat here by not including an option to view the original content, and as such these references have little comedic clout.

Because of course, NO ONE who plays this game will have visited the actual website. EVER. And NO ONE will find it funny.

Classic Gamespot.

[Rather Dashing]

"Pointing and clicking becomes tiresome quickly"?

Seriously?

What's next? They give Call of Duty a 5 because "Shooting becomes tiresome", or a Final Fantasy a 4 because "Turn-based combat becomes tiresome"?

[Udvarnoky]

Everyone's entitled to their opinions and whatnot, but wow, that Gamespot review is retarded.

[ninfan87]

VGGEN.com gave it an 8.5 - http://pc.vggen.com/reviews/strongbad/

[ShaggE]

Well, I know where not to look for video game reviews in the future. Gamespot review. (http://www.gamespot.com/pc/adventure/strongbadscoolgameforattractivepeople/review.html?om_act=convert&om_clk=multimodule&tag=multimodule;picks;img;1)

The picture caption even says that Homestar is talking to his agent... did they even play the game?

*facepalm*

Ladies and not-ladies, meet the Fox News of game sites. Nothing in that review makes me think they've actually played the game.

[stronggamer]

ign gave it a 9 but they probably really gave it a 10 and just lied about it

[Rather Dashing]

...yes. Because that makes perfect sense. For a reviewer to give a score, and then pull another out of their ass just for shits and giggles.

[ShaggE]

I think he was just joking :p

[leon101]

I bought it for the wii, and I'm loving it! Funny as ****!

Oh and about the agent thing. If you were serious about that, basically Gamespot was making fun of it, by saying that Homestar was mad about his game, and was talking to his agent.

[MarkDarin]

Originally Posted by Gamespot
Developer Telltale Games really missed the boat here by not including an option to view the original content, and as such these references have little comedic clout.

Wha? Thats like saying the Simpson's game dropped the ball by not including the last 19 seasons of episodes to watch, or Star Wars: The Force Unleashed missed the boat by not including all 6 movies for players to reference so they know whats going on.

[ShaggE]

^ Amen to that. A bizarre criticism, to say the least.

[wbwolf]

Just FYI, all the reviews and interviews are being kept track on the HRWiki page for SBCG4AP (http://www.hrwiki.org/index.php/Strong_Bad%27s_Cool_Game_for_Attractive_People). If you find a review that's not on there, post here and I can add it to the list.

[Trogdorman]

on a score of 1 to 10, I give Homestar Ruiner a...... 10,000,000/10

[Rather Dashing]

I'd go for a....6.

Also:

My rating scale is harsh and actually uses the numbers 1-5.

[Dangerzone]

The problem with most reviewers, is that they zero in on either the "good" or the "bad" and not too many people give objective overall reviews anymore..

Also, most reviewers are "assigned" to games (they are given a game to play, and told to review it by their publisher). Thus, when the reviewer is not that into the title to begin with, the game usually gets a halfass review (think of it as a annoying homework assignment to them, but they have to do it so they can get paid for the "work" and move onto the next game) is it starting to make sense to everyone now?

Its all about the reviewers personal perspective nowadays... A reviewer who dislikes adventure games, is going to give the game a bad review (and come up with all kinda of inane criticisms just to make it seem like they actually have "thoughts" on the game) despite what everyone else thinks of the game... And if they don't care about the game enough to even play it, well... Then they REALLY don't care about what YOU think of the game (which is a crying shame, reviews used to mean something)

They need to break up the reviewers by the genres that that enjoy, but i doubt we will ever see that day.

Speaking of perspective... here is mine (aka, a short review from a telltale game junkie)

Spoiler tagged because its a little lengthy (does not contain any actual spoilers)


Overall, The episode was a indeed a little disappointing (to a puzzle junkie like me anyways, others may have a slightly better opinion of the episode). But when you keep in mind that this was their first episode in a new license (with an entire season of four others to follow), all of a sudden, despite the fact that the first episode was kinda easy, and kinda short.... It all becomes something you can look past for the moment.

Despite its shortcomings, it did offer a unique experience (when compared to telltales other ongoing series). And, overall it was a fun game nonetheless. i was entertained the whole way though... as a matter of fact, i actually had the feeling of too much to explore, and had trouble deciding where to go next (which is a rare feeling for me) (and the only thing that annoyed me was trying to beat the snake boxer side game)

But i cannot judge on the number of locations and location size alone... I have to judge story, humor, gameplay length, and overall puzzle complexity (all of which came up slightly short of the standard that telltale has previously set). What was in the game was great, but it just could have used a little more of everything (one or two more gags, puzzles, throw in another story twist, and it would have been perfect).

But if i do what all reviewers should do (and look outside my own viewpoints), Making the episode simple in nature was a good decision, and offered a way to wet the feet of those who are unfamiliar with puzzle based adventure games...

But, i have to say that i hope the rest of the season will be closer to the sam and max episode length and content level that we know and love (maybe not sam and max difficulty, that would be a bit too much). But at least start using the four act structure from those games, it leaves the gamer a bit more satisfied after each episode (that extra bit of story goes a long way).

I was also kinda surprised by the new features that should have been implemented into telltales other games a long time ago (like the extended play mode, progress checker, and next episode sneak peeks).

So, I kinda have mixed feelings about this episode. While it fell a little short for me, I believe it was a good way for them to start out this license. While the shortcomings of this episode can be overlooked, they need to change a few things if they want to keep us story/puzzle junkies satisfied till the end of the season. i went out on a limb and pre-ordered the whole season, don't let me down telltale.

P.S. (The first episodes of Bone, CSI:, and Sam and Max kinda disappointed me as well... but look at them now)

[leon101]

^ Amen to that. A bizarre criticism, to say the least.

Especially since the game kind of aims at people that watch homestar, so... yeah, people like me who watch homestar ought to know what is going on. :D

[InfamousDS]

I really hate it how some of these critics keep referring to The Cheat as a Pikachu rip off. What's next, call Jigglypuff a Kirby rip off? So they are both yellow and small. The Cheat is totally different.

SUPER-LATE QUOTE'D

Ok, to the best of my knowledge, the Cheat was born in either 1996 or 2000 (an Olympic year around then, Matt was working for the Olympic Committee when he wrote the children's book). I am pretty sure that is just before or right when Pokemon became a fad. As such, The Cheat is a completely original invention that is only similar to the main character of a television show and a barely important character in a video game (until Yellow was released to go along with the show).

This makes me believe that anyone who is paid to review just does it because it is a paycheck and they don't even really care about the games. The few who do care are buried in the maelstrom that is the competitive review market, and the most famous ones are often more bias than actual brain (X-Play is an excellent example, I think I have only seen 1 RPG that got higher than a 3 from them). I feel that a reviewer should treat their job like it matters instead of it just being a job they must do, and since I very rarely see that quality I have taken to completely and utterly hating the idea of a "professional critic". Other pointless Jobs I hate include Paparazzi, professional athlete (unfounded hatred, most likely jealousy), and Oil Baron.

Edit: This rant is not targeted to people who review in their spare time, as they often do not get paid for it. I only hate people who don't have a real job to go to when they wake up and instead get paid to have an opinion.

[ig0rpwnwEd]

[QUOTE=BadStrong;81783]Well, I know where not to look for video game reviews in the future. Gamespot review. (http://www.gamespot.com/pc/adventure/strongbadscoolgameforattractivepeople/review.html?om_act=convert&om_clk=multimodule&tag=multimodule;picks;img;1)
/QUOTE]

Funny, looks like Telltale didn't want to pay them. http://kotaku.com/gaming/rumor/gamespot-editor-fired-over-kane--lynch-review-328244.php

[Shauntron]

http://www.1up.com/do/reviewPage?cId=3169407&p=44

Woo, an A- from 1up!