A Swedish website (who shall not be named*) has become instantly famous for breaking the embargo on Killzone 2 reviews by putting up it’s review.
The Sony SWAT team quickly swung into action and the offending piece has now been removed but not before the entire thing was syndicated around the Internet and the damage done.
So let’s get to it then, the piece we all want to know is how well did it score? Well to be honest not as well as I expected, Killzone 2 was given 4 out of 5 wihch relates to a good game but nothing overly spectacular. The main problem that was picked up was it’s lack of co-operative play which I feel is a really wrong as a game shouldn’t be marked down purely because they didn’t feel like co-op would add to the experience.
You are meant to be rating the game in front of you and not what you would have done if you had the ability to create games like this.
The translated mini review is below
The controls are good and the environments feel natural, raw and uncouth and that’s where Killzone 2 succeeds compared to many other shooters; it feels more personal, it’s easier to identify with your character and to feel connected with your teammates. Co-op is noticeably missing, which is odd, and Killzone 2 isn’t doing much new with the genre but it is great enough to succeed without launching for the Christmas Sales Period
On a side note the website has given it’s last 4 games 4/5 as well so maybe it’s just their standard review score, 4/5 doesn’t sound that bad but when you translate it to 80% it starts sounding a little dire for Killzone 2. I don’t know when the embargo is going to be lifted as we weren’t privy to seeing this game early but with a release date just around the corner (mid Feb) I would expect to see some big sites publishing their reviews from the beginning of February?
*I won’t name the site because breaking embargo’s is a very bad thing and just hurts the industry in the end, it’s not difficult to only post your articles up after the embargo has been lifted.
Last Updated: January 13, 2009
SlippyMadFrog
January 13, 2009 at 08:25
rating out of 5 isn’t a very good system IMO. You either give a game 100% or 80%. So it’s either perfect or not so good.
Geoff
January 13, 2009 at 08:29
Yes, not dofficult at all… 😀
Jonni
January 13, 2009 at 08:47
What about half stars?
StNick
January 13, 2009 at 08:48
I wish we could pinpoint the moment in time when 80% became a “bad score” for a hyped game. I am by no means disagreeing with LazySAGamer on this one, these days, 80% *is* frowned upon, and it really riles me up.
It seems to me that nowadays everyone is so quick to jump on the bandwagon and dish out perfect scores for games that are quite honestly far from perfect but rather just hyped to hell and gone.
GTA:IV is the first game that I can think of where it received tons of 100% scores after a strong advertising campaign. Only weeks later once the dust had settled did we start to see more reliable reviews.
Movies are no different. Just look at Ironman and Batman TDK of late. These are great movies, but by no means the best movies of all time! But look at the reviews!!!
I wish we could go back to the way things were when I actually TRUSTED the reviews I was reading, and where 80% was a GREAT game, and 100% was just a myth.
Banana Hammock
January 13, 2009 at 08:52
Rating out of 5 tells me it’s a Mickey Mouse site. All ratings should be out of 100.
LazySAGamer
January 13, 2009 at 08:53
I have no excuse 🙁
Here have a cookie
easy
January 13, 2009 at 08:56
does this mean kz2 has gone gold? seeing there are review copies going around. excuse my ignorance, i’m not clued up on the process (ie what version can produce an accurate review).
as for the review scoring method, they all flawed in one way or another. plus they all subjective to a point and need to be taken with a pinch of salt.
Fred
January 13, 2009 at 08:57
Sounds good , co-op not a loss for me.
LazySAGamer
January 13, 2009 at 08:58
I haven’t seen a press release stating that it has gone gold and normally the pre-release reviews are done on review copies… sometimes even with listed bugs that you can’t write about since they are working on them still
JimBob
January 13, 2009 at 08:59
OPM has also reviewed it and given it full marks – and they have been quite strict on many other PS3 exclusives.
That said, the lack of co-op is a big problem IMO. Halo 1 had it nearly 10 years ago, FFS.
SlippyMadFrog
January 13, 2009 at 09:29
COD4 was awesome without it so I wouldn’t be bothered.
SlippyMadFrog
January 13, 2009 at 09:30
If they give half stars then it’s realy out of 10 and not 5. I don’t know if this site gives half stars
RivaZA
January 13, 2009 at 10:56
Yes it has 😉
Strife Lives
January 13, 2009 at 12:51
Just asking,did any of you see the E.T.A Release date for KZ2 at BT games. . . ? I checkd yesterday,it said 31st March. . .