GameSpot says LostWinds “isn’t good enough”
Friday, May 16th, 2008 at 4:02am by Derek
In his Thursday review, GameSpot’s Tom McShea gave Frontier Developments’ LostWinds a “mediocre” rating of 5.5 of 10.
A surprising evaluation in jarring contrast to the game’s mostly glowing reviews, McShea conceded the game proves “motion controls can fundamentally change how a genre is played,” but due to sloppy controls, a “sleepy presentation and all-too-easy puzzles…LostWinds just isn’t a good enough game to make people take notice.”
Members of the Nintendo Defense Force should be sure to read his entire review before bringing out the guns; he did have some good things to say about LostWinds. But his low score and criticisms do seem to conflict with the prevalent meta-assessment of LostWinds.
It seems we have another controversial GameSpot Wii review. But to those who’ve played the game, are McShea’s criticisms justified?
May 16th, 2008 at 4:14 am
Who the hell listens to gamespot anyway? I’ve never seen a more ignorant or hopelessly opinionated review site ever.
May 16th, 2008 at 4:42 am
Like Reynard says, 95% of the time they talk absolute crap. it’s just that one persons opinion, they don’t talk about how it could fit in mass market at all. I stopped listenning to gamespot a long time ago.
I use it to store info about my games and that’s it… Terrible review site.
Nintendo Defense Force! GO!!
lol
May 16th, 2008 at 6:38 am
When you see reviews like this, you’re reminded of how poor the metacritic score calculation is. There’s no point in simply taking an average of all review scores when some are so blatantly out of whack. Metacritic scores should be calculated with outliers removed.
Many reviews are simply broken. The reviewer often pays no attention to the game, doesn’t take the time to learn the controls, is playing with a faulty controller, or has a predetermined angle for writing the review (in this case all seem to be the case). A more intelligent meta-analysis by metacritic or gamerankings would account for these outliers.
May 16th, 2008 at 7:17 am
A review is just an opinion, and I can understand why some people wouldn’t like Lost Winds. Quite a few serious gamers could be turned off from the title because of the following “faults”:
1) The in-game puzzles and combat are both very easy - something that could be said about the vast majority of games these days, but reviewers usually don’t care as long as the game is of a certain length.
2) The overall pace is much slower than most other platforming games. In fact, the entire mood created when playing is soothing and relaxing. While I don’t think there is anything wrong with that, if you wanted an exciting game then this would probably miss the mark.
That said, giving the game a 55% seems odd. It controls well, the graphics and presentation are top notch for a downloadable game, and the adventure is enjoyable (as long as you aren’t looking for fast-paced action).
Seems to me that Lost Winds accomplishes everything it set out to do in spades… and this low review score is simply because that reviewer had different, preconceived notions of what the game “should” offer. Since it’s just an opinion, there is nothing wrong the review. There is also nothing wrong with me disagreeing, however.
May 16th, 2008 at 7:18 am
On a less fanboy note I often wonder how critics feel when they are a out of line with their peers. I wonder if they question their decisions or if they feel a sense of satisfaction for being the one to say the emperor has no clothes.
May 16th, 2008 at 8:23 am
I didn’t really get the feeling that the environments were ugly or the music was bad. In fact I loved both. It is short but then again it is a 10 dollar game. All in all it is his opinion. Nothing to get worked up about. Clearly next time we will just have to kidnap him and replace him with an Nintendo loving clone.
May 16th, 2008 at 8:51 am
Here’s my opinion; Tom McShea “Gigglepoo” is a MORON!
Too bad this guy no longer does freelance work for OneUp, I know someone there that would gladly relay a boot to the head to this uncoordinated twit and this opinions. If he found LW’s environments ugly, I would hate to see his idea of beautiful — it probably involves laughs and poo.
http://www.1up.com/do/my1Up?publicUserId=5858860
May 16th, 2008 at 8:57 am
Anyone who is anyone should know better than to even accept GameSpot’s reviews as worthwhile.
Bunch of crap, IMO. They don’t deserve to do reviews.
May 16th, 2008 at 9:09 am
What a coincidence. GameSpot is also “not good enough” to read. I hear even their own editors, err, EX-editors, believe the same thing.
May 16th, 2008 at 9:20 am
I think those who have been making reviews for the Nintendo sections of Gamespot have had opinions differing so much from my own that I don’t even care to to read any review there anymore but how are they at other sections?
I don’t like the Sony reviewers at IGN which is where I oftentimes get my Nintendo reviews so I’m looking for another site for that, perhaps that section of gamespot is good?
May 16th, 2008 at 9:30 am
Gamespot has been giving out lower scores ever since Gertsmanngate. They’re trying to bring back street cred by proving how “hard” they are. The whole site sucks, just like CNET who owns them, and CBS who will soon own them both.
May 16th, 2008 at 9:40 am
I played LostWinds for an hour the other night and I have to say I partially agree with them. It’s definitely not a 100 score-worthy game. A much more fair score would be 75 or 80.
May 16th, 2008 at 10:30 am
You have to review a game on its own merits. Lost Winds is a perfect example of a concept realized. It is so chill. Relaxing in short bursts. Totally worth $10. To not like it requires the absence of a soul.
May 16th, 2008 at 10:49 am
Yeah, I don’t agree with the reviewer’s assessment of LostWinds at all, and it’s somewhat disheartening to see his inaccuracies effect the metacritic score, making it harder for people to see the game’s awesomeness. If you go on any website, the game is getting rave reviews from everyone. Just look at GameSpot’s reader reviews on the title. Only 3% of the reader reviews rated the game as low as Gamespot itself. That’s 97% that say its Good or better, with the highest percentage saying its Superb (90 - 100) at 48%. Clearly the GameSpot reviewer was the worst possible person to do this review.
May 16th, 2008 at 11:54 am
LostWinds is very much old-school and absolutely engaging. It seems to me that Gamespot is struggling desperately to remain relevant.
May 16th, 2008 at 12:39 pm
i’ve alwways hated gamespot. i dont visit the
site for any reason whatsoever
anymore. they might as well not exist cause just about every other gamesite is better then that piece of crap
May 16th, 2008 at 12:40 pm
haha oh good lord- way to lob them a softball derek…
it’s like lowering a cow lowered into the velociraptor cage
May 16th, 2008 at 1:44 pm
deepthought: I thought they might be hungry.
But in all seriousness, my opinion is that LostWinds deserves a far better score than 5.5 of 10. I’m not going to really get into what I would’ve given it; Mr. McShea works for GameSpot, not me, so I won’t disrespect his assessment. I’ll just say I politely, strongly disagree.
Much like I did like the GameSpot review of Twilight Princess.
May 16th, 2008 at 2:00 pm
Can’t someone end the madness and just take down this website so we don’t have conversations like this anymore?
It’s plainly obvious this site does not know how to do video game reviews - and they should never try again.
At least, until they know how to do an effective review of a game that is unbiased and analytical…and know how to count….and what a decimal is…and a fraction…and percentage…you get the gist.
I want to be rich so I can acquire this website and SHUT IT DOWN NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
May 16th, 2008 at 2:25 pm
Gamespot only gives high ratings towards games which publishers are willing to advertise…
You can buy a high score at gamespot.
Lostwinds isn’t worth a ten, but yet much more then gamespot gave it.
May 16th, 2008 at 3:35 pm
I just looked up their scores for FFCC:MLAK and Boom Blox and they consistently are the lowest review score on metacritic. I’m getting really sick of their bias against Nintendo and how their scores pull the whole metascore down. A lot of people use those scores to determine if they should buy a game, and I know that I am often influenced by them. Especially if a game gets in the high 80s rank, it’s going to be a game I need to at least play if not just buy. Someone needs to get a petition to have Gamespot dropped from Metacritic and just show me where to sign.
May 16th, 2008 at 3:43 pm
It’s clearly and “eye of the beholder” issue here. He uses the word “sleep” in a derogatory sense, while I would consider the “sleepiness” of the title to be incredibly endearing. I guess that game didn’t seem to be fitting of a more caffeine-addled presentation as might suit the reviewer. What was he thinking?
May 16th, 2008 at 6:15 pm
How can we take game reviews seriously from this Gamespot, when many of their well known reviewers have left ship?
I don’t frequent gamespot, so I wouldn’t know what was said. But in any case the scores from the other sites seem noteworthy.
May 16th, 2008 at 7:11 pm
The ONLY thing I didn’t like about the game was its brevity. It’s so beautiful, controls well, has an ambiance like no other, and breaths new life into my favorite genre, the platformer. The only thing holding it back is how short it is.
And the folks over at GameSpot just don’t seem to like Nintendo altogether. Honestly, though, I don’t think one site’s nasty review is going to keep people from buying this wonderful game.
May 16th, 2008 at 8:05 pm
Another amazing review from Gamespot, keep it up. And I’m not joking, it was a great review. Gamespot always scores low, so I don’t get what the big deal. Fanboys these days.
May 16th, 2008 at 8:30 pm
The only reviews I read are my own. Why? Because I played the game. End of story. So color me unamused at this grandstanding by both sides of this issue. Sorry DmNt; I just don’t care.
May 17th, 2008 at 12:03 am
Started playing LostWinds tonight and the first time I looked up, 2 hours had passed. (I had only just gotten the second power, so obviously I’m exploring a little more than these “wtf 3 hours” people.)
I don’t know if it’s a 10/10 game, but so far I’d easily give it a 9.
May 17th, 2008 at 12:18 am
That score would hurt if only GameSpot had any ounce of credibility left.
May 18th, 2008 at 9:33 pm
I don’t much care about reviews. I use them as a general guide when I’m assessing buying a game, and then I NEVER use only one site. I read full reviews from IGN and 1up and even if the scores are low I want to know if the game has features that appeal to me. Lost Winds to me is a perfect 10 because it includes all the features I look for, and for only $10 (the length would not be remotely satisfactory if it was any more than that but for an Alexander Hamilton it’s plenty satisfying). Controls can sometimes get annoying but they’re intuitive and ultimately based on skill. With no time limits and enemies only being a way to give the game a little more urgency and action you don’t really have to worry about anything but solving the puzzle. It’s kind of a zen experience that I adore. Puzzles are kind of easy but they’re accessible. Games become not fun to me when I start getting frustrated consistently and the game a couple times had me stuck so I turned it off and came back the next day to solve it easily. That’s satisfying and what I want in a game. I’ve said it before, I put in in a category with Portal with a perfection you just don’t see in most games, especially “DLC shovelware”. It’s certainly sold me on WiiWare and I plan on spending lots and lots of money on the service anxiously awaiting Lost Winds 2 (hopefully featuring more elemental gameplay, new power ups will be vital).
One last note… stop calling it a platformer. It’s got lots of platformer in it but you’re better off considering it a puzzle game set in a Metroid-like environment just like Portal is a puzzle game set in an FPS environment.
May 19th, 2008 at 9:15 am
I haven’t played the game yet, it looks pretty fun as well, but I won’t let some journalist change my opinion of a game. Hell the only gaming publications I like anymore is Game Informer. They provide great coverage, just like NP did before they became part of Future US (terrible move IMO).