Been doing this for years. I would say that 90% of the time, I end up deleting the game from computer and never playing it again after the first 10mins or so of play. There is so much hype around games these days that it is hard to distinguish the crap from the legit games that are released.



Agreed.

Yea I learned that lesson a long time ago.

@Empire Earth III. None of the sites have reviewed it yet, not even Gamespot and it's been released for about eight days now. Whats going on?!

The good news is that the whole issue of incomplete games tends to happen only to PC games - very rarely will you see an incredibly buggy and literally broken console game (though they do indeed exsist - 'Coded Arms: Contagion' is a good example).

Engineering a good code takes vision, intelligence, almost mystical powers.

Just look at the recent hype around "Crysis". Promising product from what i've seen and heard about everywhere in the gaming communities.
BUT, is it that good of a software?

Only time can answer the question. Once players have ran out of steam from playing hundreds of looping attempt at something they truly believe is great stuff. Cuz, that's what THEY want from their games, though.

Remember, Warcraft. No-no, the simplest of the serie. The first turn-based, Great music, excellent concept. Fantastic artwork. It had it all. ***For the Hard-Core-Strategy-Gamers out there***.
Then, Blizzard went balistic with its "World of" RPG (almost exclusively that type, btw)... abandonning the RTS fanbase. Fantasy ala simulated FPS with sooooo much fireworks and thunderbolts, it blinds even if you're wearing sun-shaes, three coats of UV protection, an helmet and four gaskets. Skin raising guaranteed.
Still Warcraft? Not to me, it isn't.

One of the great lesson to learn by big gaming production houses is amazingly simple; Know your market, aim at specific targets, develop FOR it.

That's what i liked most about GC (again, the first concept -- a long time ago, in...). The developpers sticked to their guns and fired on all barrels for GC2 and beyond.

Mind, you, i'm a Sci-Fi core fanatic. While others may prefer Sims's likes, burn tires on asphalt and/or, shoot a top-down invader saucer with a left-to-right fully upgradable tiny ship.
Deceptively simple, a game sucks if the quality (expected and presumed, also) doesn't match the stashed cash. Thief or angel, pick your features.

I'll never, ever, forever, encourage anyone who proves to be slack on my entertainment pass-time for some if not much more invaluable Ca$h. What's installed on my Drives is worth every single byte it takes up. Gimme the best or i'll go somewhere else - fast and solid rocket boosting myself away from dangers, bugs and hackers. And from any corporations who don't care about anything else than their budget figures and investors port-folios.

Welcome to the jungle, the monster is right behind this tree. Run. Fly. Laser gun at the ready.

A game means FUN.

- Zyxpsilon.

The game must suck then. It's almost a given now that a if a game does not have a review up the same day it is released or within a day or two, it sucks and is going to receive a bad score.

Can all of you believe I just searched the net and their still is no review on Empire Earth 3----I'm starting to wonder if all these game review sites---gamespot--gamespy etc. can be trusted for honest reviews of a game!!!!

I won't buy a game unless I play the demo or read some players reviews first(present company the exception ) . I will sometimes pick up a bargain title if it looks interesting. If I get a few hours out of it, I don't mind spending the Ten bucks(Still more time than a DVD provides usually). I'm usually able to wait on a game a while anyways. DA and TA are the only games that I've actually preordered in my life. Any other company and game I'd most likely see it for $20 in 6 months and get it then.



I often will go and check the main review sites after actually playing a game, just to see how closely I agree with them. After a while you kind of learn which ones are more trustworthy to give a review you do agree with.

I have noticed this trend as well. And it sucks because I like being "in the loop" on whats hot and whats not, but I get burned by a lot of bad games costing me $$$ they did not deserve... I have noticed myself get a lot more concious about what games I purchase, I am also starting to get a feel for if a game is going to be good or if its just hyped up good too. Things to look for are track record of the company, how much comunication they have with the fan base, state of betas, how long betas are etc. For example, I knew hellgate london would not be good on release by the fact that the beta ended 1 week before release or so. Other factors that gave me this conclusion was that I couldnt be sure of the company as it had no good track record. Thirdly fan based suggestions of change where not implemented during beta as far as I could tell. (some where probably but not stuff I cared about myself.) So i put 2 and 2 together and made an educated guess on how well it would be on release.