PC Gamer gives Oblivion a 4 page, 16 screenshot review, Galciv2 gets 1 PAGE?????

Oblivion has been talked about and anticipated for months. For many gamers, it was THE release they were waiting for this year.

Galciv2 is awesome, and has sold very well, but did not have the build up hype and anticipation Oblivion had in the gaming community.

I am guessing both reviews were written over a month ago, and PC Gamer knew Oblivion would be hitting the shelves about the same time the magazine would be hitting the news stands.

I'm not saying GalCiv2 isn't worthy, but I bet the factors I outlined partly explaine what you see.

Tony

Yeah, that's the problem. The dev's themselves have been surprised at sales, because noone knows who it is. If I go onto any online game like CoH or WoW and ask "who here has galciv2", I either get blank looks or (very rarely) someone excited saying "Yeah I'll have that tomorrow/few days/couple weeks!" followed by a VERY long absence from the game
Mention Oblivion, however, and watch those who hate Elder Scrolls prepare for war against those looking forward to the game

Also got to remeber those articales are written some time in advance.
But I'm sure the reason why will become painfuly clear when the total amount of sales is tallied.

In movie terms Oblivion is like a highly anticipated summer blockbuster and galciv2 is more like a beloved cult film, Stardock could have probably made 10 galciv2 like games with the budget of Oblivion.

Number of factors coming into play here. GalCiv really was a suprise success - on the surface, it's a turn based space strategy game. A niche genre if ever there was one. Oblivion has had plenty of hype going for it, and RPGs just seem to be doing better these days then TBS games.

Plus, there's the matter of screenshots. While Galciv 2 isn't ugly by any stretch of the imagination, Oblivion is really awe inspiring. Plus, it's much much easier to get a sense of what's going on from a screenshot in oblivion, given the first person interaction. Much if not most of galciv 2's depth is in the numbers - and as impressive as a 2k income may be in gameplay, it just don't make for an interesting screenshot. You're stuck with pretty much fleet combat and the ship builder for things that are really gonna be interesting in a screenshot, and you can only take so many pictures of those, you know?

And you know, the details of galciv are kind of hard to make exciting to the uninitiated. There's an awful lot of stat crunching, which is great and deep, but doesn't seem all that exciting to those who aren't into it. Oblivion's got swords and demons - lot easier to sell.


They're both phenomenal games, don't get me wrong. Just Oblivion is a lot easier to hype up, and it's a bigger attention grabber.

Oblivion has an audience alot many times bigger than GC2. More audience = more readers = more pages.

i got that pc gamer & didnt expect it to be any differant. esp since i bought the CE version of Oblivion I really wanted tha tlong review.. PC Gamer did give GalCiv good review IMO. It was short but pretty sweet. Also playing the godfather,another pretty good game.

I'd partially disagree with you their Fade. I think both games were eagerly anticipated. The marketeers like to push Obliviion more though because as you correctly say, its easier to sell.

I think that the type of gamer who plays TBS games is also the gamer who plays RPGs and real time strategy. People who prefer a little bit more meat in their games than the point and shoot or jump and shoot crowd you find with FPS players etc.

For me the choice not to get Oblivion was really because my machine isn't good enough to run it and I can't afford a new one (I have a AMD 2600 with 512MB RAM and a 9800 Raedon Pro) and I've tired of having to upgrade my machine to play a game!! (Plus I'm still playing thru Morrowind!)

Oblivion sucks cos it won't run on a good res without framedropes on the 'average' computer! It 'can' look great but only if you own a über-pc! Daggerfall, Morrowind and now Oblivion, why are they still trying to release buggy games with an crappy engine.

If you took away Oblivion graphics and such, it is a dumbed down console port. MW was longer and more in depth.

Oblivion is not a very long game are. It is about 1/4 the size of MW.

Oblivion does have a better lockpicking and persuasion minigame. But for everything a step forward, a huge step backwards.

It definitely was made for the console gamer. I give it a 8/10 for a fun ADVENTURE game with some RPG elements.
Without all the hype...and living off the francise name..it would be slisshen.

First of all, oblivion is NOT 1/4 the size of Morrowind, its way deeper and better in every aspect, i completely adore the game.
Secondly, i also completely adore GalCiv2, but lets remember that GalCiv2 didnt have a huge ad-campaign, if any at all.
This has nothing to do with "which is the best game?", it has to do with money, PC Gamer needs to have a huge review for the most anticipated game in order to tell ppl wether or not its worth it, since so many people are anticipating it.

A game like GalCiv2, which altough it is extremely popular now, is NOT very anticipated except for the original GalCiv fans, can do well with just a 1 page review and a good score.
A game as hyped as Oblivion simply Needs a bigger review in order to cover most aspects of the game, whats good, and what was hyped too much.
GalCiv2 can just have 1 page saying what a great empire builder it is, that it even surpasses Civ4 in some aspects, and thats enugh for people! We dont need 3 pages of starbase building tactics, we just need a good verdict

GalCiv2 is also and independant game from a smaller company while Oblivion comes from a widely known gaming company and its a sequal to an already wildy successful game.

Who still reads PC gamer? I haven't read the magazine in a long time. Who can even take their reviews seriously.

Oblivion is great and there are already mods to tweak the game play the way you want it. Frankly while Morrowind was great, Oblivion is just a much better overall experience.

Oh, and Oblivion is 4x as big as morrowind. It's 16 square miles (well its actually more than that due to all the elevation changes. and thats not counting the milage for the plane of oblivion or cave/ruins etc...) On horse back it still takes along time to get from one end to the other...A really really long time (thank goodness for quick travel). This game is mind boggingly huge and DETAILED it's amazing they finished it in four years. The only game environment thats bigger is DaggerFall and Operation Flashpoints island (25 square miles,but not as detailed)in their expansion.

The only thing thats smaller in comparison is the main quest which clocks in at about 40-50 hours where as Morrowinds was about 90 hours. The oblivion main quest however is more detailed from what I can tell and of course there is hundreds if not endless hours of game play outside the main quest of both games. Oblivion will be played for a looooong time.

Haven't you learned by now that magazines and review sites are owned by Microsoft, EA, Activision, Atari and any other major mainstream companies I missed? Advertising dollars equate to excellent reviews even if the games are crap. Oblivion is horrendous for the PC because of it's UI, plain and simple it was made for the console first and then ported to the PC with an identical UI. POS if you ask me. Rome Total War had almost the worst AI in gaming history, both strategic and tactical, yet, the magazines and websites drooled over it. Civilization IV had some major issues with ATI cards right out of the box that the publishers/developers even admitted to, it had memory leaks and other game breaking flaws right out of the box, yet, it got "gushing reviews" and GOTY! lol Then on the other side of the fence X3-Reunion had very few issues and flaws and was cremated by most of the major review sites for it's FLAWS!!! The reviewers at Gamespy really got chewed on by the community for their review after gushing over CIV IV with all it's issues and flaws out of the box.

I personally don't think they even play these games, but, in the initial beginning and then use the cheat codes to fast forward to the end so they can give a seemingly complete review. When you see nothing but gushing and then you get the game and can clearly see the flaws right out of the box the very first day one should question the professionalism that these reviewers are putting into their jobs. The Oblivion review from Gamespot was so 8 year oldish I laughed while reading it. These kids in diapers out of college really need to go back and learn what good reporting is. It isn't "gushing reviews" at any rate. Maybe they need to read how the hollywood reviewers do it and learn something.

They are so in a hurry now to be the FIRST to review a game, they are missing the point of what they are supposed to be doing in the first place. Giving an HONEST INFORMED and CRITICAL review of the game so the buying public can get a CLEAR idea what to expect when they open that box. They should review both the good and the bad, it should include exactly how the UI works and if it really fits the PC. They should review the AI with tenacity and report whether it's up to par or a pos like RTW's was. Above all else they should test the highest difficulty to determine if there is any challenge to the game beyond normal. Not play the easiest level and then say "THE AI IS GREAT" haha
IGN is one of the world's worst for lying in their reviews. I've caught them several times saying something about the game that is not even in the game or part of the game.

I long ago stopped reading or subscribing to any gaming magazines or visit any review websites with any enthusiasim. Everywhere you go or read in a magazine you see the majors and hype advertisements, the lying hype. When I find a review site that is only supported by Coke or Pepsi or some other form of advertising dollars "instead" of being in someones pocket, then I might consider them somewhat "professional". PCgamer isn't. Computer Gaming World isn't, Computer Strategy Gamer isn't and any others that are in the pockets of the major gaming publishers.

There's one big difference between Oblivian and GC2 that I'd like to point out. Both games had bugs allright, but GC2 has been patched and updated since it's release. I've seen Frogboy all over the forums looking at the bug report. I appreciate that, although I'm aware that I'm fortunate to be able to play GC2 right off the bat.

On the other hand the developers of Oblivian haven't said jack since it's release. Plus, they outright lied both on the box and at the website, saying the game supported Gforce FX cards, WHICH IT DOES NOT.
I not only couldn't play Oblivian, I couldn't even get that buggy piece of crap to uninstall. Sold my copy and would like to send a galactic plague to Bethesda.

Kudos to Frogboy and Stardock, for not only providing a great game, but for their continued support after they got my money.

Oblivian is a totally different genre of game really.

My honest opinion is that Gal Civ 2 requires a smarter player to play than does Oblivian.

I think part of the reason is that Oblivian is hyped up so much by comparison.

Stardock has done absolutely nothing wrong here and i think the industry as a whole has a lot to learn from you guys.

Some guy up there said the UI for pc oblivion sucks, the only way to play a mage with many spells is the hot keys. I know the 360 version has them too but they suck also try to precision aim an arrow with the frantic speed that game has with an analog stick.... go ahead try it. the mouse is way better plus with an uber pc the graphics with make you wet your pants. navigating the maps stats items etc. with F1-F4 rocks, the menus on the 360 are to clumsy.

That said I still love GalCiv2 and spend just as much time on it as oblivion ( I like things epic Right now playing huge with very many habitable planets and max comps I have like 49 planets and things are looking rough)

How many CDs does oblivion come with?

It comes on one DVD.

You guys seriously need to chill out. It doesn't matter that GalCiv II only got a one page review. It will still get a lot of exposure just by appearing in PC Gamer. And, from what I can tell GalCIv II will make stardock a very good return on their investment, so they're not really going to complain either.

oblivion ships on 1 DVD.

imo Oblivion is really an awesome game. I was kinda disapointed by Morrowind. the graphic engine was powerful, but the Morrowind province isnt really a beautiful setting to begin with and the atmosphere just wasnt that good. also the storyline was kinda weak imo.

Oblivion on the other hand has a very interesting story and alot of improvements over Morrowind. especially the NPC behaviour is alot better and reminds me of Ultima 7 or Gothic. I have an AMD64 3200+ with 1 Gig RAM and an GF 6800 GT with 256 MB DDR. not a bad system but overally already more than 2 years old and Oblivion runs like a charm on high settings (and looks awesome). of your maxing every detail would probably kill my system, but dont forget that the game engine is supposed to still look awesome in 1-2 years when way better hardware is common.

anyway back to topic.

The german's leading game magazine Gamestar gave GalCiv a crappy 62%.

I guess they played the game for 15 minutes only because I dont know where they came up with the crap they wrote about it. Like:

- low detail ship models (did they notice that they have to add fluff to the base hull models in order to make them look good?)
- weak sound/music (I like the music, and its an Turn Based Strategy Game, what kind of sound do they expect?)
- screwed balance, unfairness (well playing on random maps can turn out to be quiet hard in certain setups, but there are scenarious as well. guess they dont know the meaning of RANDOM when they start a game).
- they complain that during the game there are periods where you aint doing anything but hitting the next turn button (thats probably why they suck so bad instead of micro managing their planets and taxes lol)
- starting locations unfair distributed (see screwed balance, man carebears to not be game testers )
- AI partly acts stupid (they probably didnt play at Intelligent)
- The AI cheats technology (lol, AI only trades very aggressively. trade yourself and you wont get rolled by them, man how dumb can professional testers be?)
- weak campaign (well we didnt buy GC2 to play the campaign until the end of times. metaverse its where its at)

So, Iam really thinking of canceling my subscription to that magazine ( they also gave Spellforce 2 a 91%, but Oblivion only a 90% wtf).

The graphics of the ships are just fine, the game looks better than Civ4.

The sounds are okay too, like you said, its a turn based game and if you dislike the background music you can turn it off and use your own.

lol @ screwed balance, did they realize that it could be an aim of the game to be unbalanced? I mean the start positions and everything else is random, its supposed to be a bit better/worse for you at start..

If your start location sucks you have to switch your technology tactic. This game requires to have a long think at the start of the game what you need to research, silly gamestar.

The campaign is just fine, not worse than the one from wc3 etc.

Gamestar does suck, I am german by the way thats why I feel offended when Gamestar writes such crap.

I totally agree with you Anubis.

I guess they never got around to reading the instructions, and using Ctrl-N. If it looks unfair try again.