Play Magazine (US) April Issue reviews etc

Play Magazine's April issue has arrived in my mailbox, and the cover is Death Jr for Wii. It is cover 1 of 2, the other being Okami for Wii.

House of the Dead 2 & 3 Return poster included.

Okami (Wii) 9.5
Condemned 2 Bloodshot (360, PS3, PC) 9.5
Army of Two (360, PS3) 8.0
Universe at War (360, PC) 8.5
Viking Battle for Asgard (360, PS3) 9.5
SNK Arcade Classics Vol 1 (PS2, PSP, Wii) 9.0
Super Smash Bros Brawl (Wii) 10
Castle of Shikigami III (Wii) 7.0
WWII Aces (Wii) 2.0
Fifa Street 3 (360, PS3) 6.5
Mana Khemia: Alchemists of Al-Revis (PS2) 7.0
House of the Dead 2 & 3 Return (Wii) 7.0
ObsCure: The Aftermath (Wii) 7.5
Turning Point: Fall of Liberty (360, PS3) 5.0
PixelJunk Monsters (PSN) 9.0
Sega Superstars Tennis (360, PS3, Wii, PS2) 8.5
Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII (PSP) 9.0
God of War: Chains of Olympus (PSP) 9.0
Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword (NDS) 9.5
Rondo of Swords (NDS) 8.0
Final Fantasy: Ring of Fates (NDS) 8.0
Tales of Destiny: Director's Cut (PS2) 7.0 import review

I’ll read thru and post here if there’s any hot news that we don’t know about already, or if there’s any rumors!




Dave Halverson reveals this is his last issue as Editor in Chief of Play.

Excerpt from the Letter to the Editor:
“I’m promoting myself to Publisher/Creative Director so that I can pursue growing the Play, Geek, Girls of Gaming, and Play Japan brands; finally try my hand at manga (yes, I have two in the works) and spend more time doing feature work in addition to my infamous “Dave game” reviews. I’ll be working on the site as well and training my kids to kick your butt on PSN and XBLA. It’s been a great run spending half my life putting issues together but it’s time for some new blood, or in the case of the print magazine business, fresh meat. So I give you my dear friend Brady Fiechter. If I didn’t have someone like Brady to take the reins I’d never consider this but, like me, for better or for worse, Brady has something to say and finds the status-quo as unexciting as I do. And so, if you want to hear me rant check the Back of the Book every now and then, otherwise just look for the really high scores… and there I’ll be.”
 
Xyphie said:
This magazine gave Lair a 9 right?

Just stop.

Oh, and between Brady and I, hopefully you're going to see more digital download reviews in upcoming issues. Had I known he was going to review Monsters, I would have beaten him to the punch and done it myself.
 
Those scores are higher that usual from Play. (If that's possible)
 
*comes in to check what games were reviewed...

...hears the mob approaching*

Good luck Shidoshi!

*runs out screaming*
 
I'm always so impressed with this magazine's style, from the awesome high-quality paper to the mountains of artwork they always have. There's eight pages of Okami, and three of those pages are full-page artworks, in addition to all the other art in the article. Beautiful. Full page Disgaes 3 artwork. Full page The World Ends With You artwork. It is very nice!

They always seem to have different ads then the other magazines too. I've always wondered, but does Play have an "ad staff" that creates some of these for the publishers? They are always higher quality ads then what I see elsewhere.
 
SHOTEH FOCK OP said:
I'm always so impressed with this magazine's style, from the awesome high-quality paper to the mountains of artwork they always have. There's eight pages of Okami, and three of those pages are full-page artworks, in addition to all the other art in the article. Beautiful. Full page Disgaes 3 artwork. Full page The World Ends With You artwork. It is very nice!

They always seem to have different ads then the other magazines too. I've always wondered, but does Play have an "ad staff" that creates some of these for the publishers? They are always higher quality ads then what I see elsewhere.

That's why i subscribe to them. For the beautiful quality images! :D
 
SHOTEH FOCK OP said:
They always seem to have different ads then the other magazines too. I've always wondered, but does Play have an "ad staff" that creates some of these for the publishers? They are always higher quality ads then what I see elsewhere.

Cheap shot: I think that's what the whole magazine is!

I kid I kid! I cherish my LoZ: Wind Waker and Odin Sphere copies of Play. Fantastic love letters/reviews Dave!
 
shidoshi said:
Just stop.

Oh, and between Brady and I, hopefully you're going to see more digital download reviews in upcoming issues. Had I known he was going to review Monsters, I would have beaten him to the punch and done it myself.

Play is by far my favorite gaming mag, but you guys are REALLY generous with your scoring. Seems to be the only real crit with the mag as the writing is excellent, as is the layout.
 
hey play

curb_your_enthusiasm-thumb.jpg
 
AltogetherAndrews said:
Why? Serious question here, why shouldn't old reviews be mentioned in threads like these? It adds a point of reference, so what's wrong with doing so?

Because Lair is only being brought up to once again bring up that stupid argument. Plus, it's an especially bad example to try to "catch" Play on our scores, because the person who reviewed the game (Casey) came on here and fully explained why he gave it what he did.


Error said:
no FES review?

You really think I'm going to let Play get away without a FES review?
 
shidoshi said:
Just stop.

You guys did give Lair a 9.

The fact that you were shipped a non-finished product and reviewed it based on faith in the devs alone that they would fix all the problems you guys found before the review was published doesn't excuse anything.

It doesn't excuse the 8.5 revised down Sonic the Hedgehog 360 score either. If you don't want to be judged by your reviews, don't put them in the magazine to begin with. Reviews are a major draw for a magazine and if you give controversial scores, you're going to get controversy.

If you really think the Lair 9 is justified, you shouldn't have said "Just stop", you should have said "Play Magazine stands by a 9 for Lair, so what?"
 
Stumpokapow said:
You guys did give Lair a 9.

Uhm, no, I didn't. Play isn't a entity, it's a magazine. One of the reviewers did. And - as I just mentioned above - the reviewer who did came to this very message forum to explain why he did.
 
Sega is owning. Viking and Condemned are great games. Sega superstars tennis is ok, but got decent to good reviews it appears.
 
Amir0x said:
Explaining the reasons doesn't mean the reasons weren't kinda shitty.

The reasons were kinda shitty man.

But they're still HIS reasons. Sure, you might not agree with him giving Lair a 9. But at the same time, people might not agree with me giving Persona 3 a 9.5 (or with the score I'm going to give FES). And if you ask me, I can give you paragraph after paragraph of why I gave Persona 3 that score.

So, if I think the game honestly deserves a 9.5, should I then not give the game the score I think it deserves, because others might think my reasonings were ridiculous?

That's not to say that I agreed with his reasons. I can't say that either way, because I never played Lair. I do know, however, I've certainly disagreed with some of the other staffers on the scores that they gave to particular games. But the experience I have with those games, and what they had, are obviously very different.

(This sort of also goes in response to Dante's post.)
 
Hitler Stole My Potato said:
sonic%20the%20hedgehog-xbox%20360.jpg

Play Magazine: "You simply can't ask for more out of an action game. Mission accomplished. Sonic is born anew."

Tell me this isn't a real quote from the review.
 
LAIR is like 9 months old, who cares about that shit. jokes on whoever bought it, can we please move along? PLAY magazine threads are so goddamn tiring.

shidoshi you are reviewing FES then? I'll look forward to your SPOILER free (it better be) review
 
Man the world we live in is great! Very few games suck with only one below average game this month! Golden age of videogames confirmed by Play.
 
shidoshi said:
Uhm, no, I didn't. Play isn't a entity, it's a magazine. One of the reviewers did. And - as I just mentioned above - the reviewer who did came to this very message forum to explain why he did.

So you interpret "You guys" to mean "you personally" instead of "You guys" and you remind me that the reviewer explained himself when my post LINKS to the reviewers explanation? :lol

Also, I work for a magazine so you don't need to pull that with me. That's not how it works. You don't get to have it both ways. You don't get to say "Come read Play, we've got reviews" and simultaneously say "If you don't like the reviews, don't blame Play". If you do not want your magazine to be judged by any portion of content, whether opinion or otherwise, don't publish the content.

When a newspaper has an editorial page, they simultaneously say "The opinion is the opinion of the author" and "We support our authors". If you support the 9 for Lair, then you shouldn't get snarky every time someone points it out. You don't get to distance your magazine from the review unless you're willing to take action against that review.
 
Mrbob said:
Tell me this isn't a real quote from the review.
http://www.playmagazine.com/index.php?fuseaction=SiteMain.showGamePage&Game_ID=425&page=2

Sonic the Hedgehog literally has everything: platforming—some of it amid situations you simply will not believe—high-speed chases, close quarters combat, multiple vehicles, flying, speed zones, character customization, real time cinemas (skillfully acted—this is Sega’s best localization to date), beautiful CG, telekinesis, RPG elements, open world exploration, rail grinding, rampant diversity, epic bosses, a fantastic soundtrack, a beautiful princess to save—you actually spend levels carrying her—and next-gen visuals that make you happy to be alive. You simply can’t ask for more out of an action game. Mission accomplished. Sonic is born anew.
 
shidoshi said:
But they're still HIS reasons. Sure, you might not agree with him giving Lair a 9. But at the same time, people might not agree with me giving Persona 3 a 9.5 (or with the score I'm going to give FES). And if you ask me, I can give you paragraph after paragraph of why I gave Persona 3 that score.

So, if I think the game honestly deserves a 9.5, should I then not give the game the score I think it deserves, because others might think my reasonings were ridiculous?

That's not to say that I agreed with his reasons. I can't say that either way, because I never played Lair. I do know, however, I've certainly disagreed with some of the other staffers on the scores that they gave to particular games. But the experience I have with those games, and what they had, are obviously very different.

(This sort of also goes in response to Dante's post.)

I'm not saying you or he should change your scores. I'm saying as a magazine, you can't merely disconnect all responsibility for your content. And I'd say that your reviews are something that has consistently been an issue for a lot of people, as you can see.

But yeah I mean I respect the fact that you can come here and defend the scores, but that doesn't really automatically mean the scores are justified in an appropriate way. I don't think the Lair or Sonic score were ever justified in a way that didn't make the magazine look bad.

That said, I don't really care... I was just noting that the scores were way fucking liberal for my tastes. But I like my negativity served hot.
 
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