Very true, Marc.
Problem is though that *all* reviews are the personal opinions of the
reviewer.
So in a situation where (a) a review gives a glowing report and (b)
comments from actual buyers are scathing, if I were the person intending
to purchase the product then I'd be very wary about the legitimacy of
the review.
This situation, of course, does not just apply to computer games!
--
Bruce.
(At home)
After reading this post, this is a message I sent to the nobrainer who
wrote the review:
Just what copy of the game were you reviewing when you wrote this article?
You state there is not much more to ask for, how about yellow flags for
one? How about decent AI for seconds? How about being able to make a lap
without them taking you out of the race? And by the way, I have a P266 AGP
with a Riva 128 AND a Monster 3d connected, and the best frame rate I can
get is 30 fps, average is 20-25. And I greatly disagree: it is in fact
another pretty 3d accelerated face in the crowd. I suggest you look at the
rec.autos.simulators newsgroup, you will see I am not even close to being
the only one who feels this way! 92%? How about 42%.
Hi Marc,
By the way, thanks for the ICR2 3D tracks and AI enhancements
at The Sim Project, and extra thanks to you and John for starting up
Sim Racing News again!! I would love to see it become the "Bluesnews"
of Sim Racing.
Anyway, while I agree that reviews contain opinions, they
should at least be factual. My problem with the reviews at The
Adrenaline Vault, Operation 3DFX, and PCME, is that they border on
flat out lies, and at the very least are extremely misleading. For
example, all three reviews say that CPR has great use of 3D
acceleration and provides a sense of speed and detail never before
seen in other racing sims. The PCME review even says that CPR is not a
resource hog and that it will run well on a P166 with 3D accelerator.
This is just not true. It has been well documented, and even admitted
by the CPR developers themselves, that CPR is lacking in the frame
rate department. I have played CPR on everything from a P133 with
Monster 3D to a PII300 with 128 Velocity, and while full detail on the
PII300 can give you 25-30fps, it is in no way smooth. With other cars
on screen, and depending on what track you are racing, I have seen the
frame rates drop into the ***s, on a PII300?!? CPR is just NOT a good
example of 3D acceleration in a racing sim. With full detail it is
pretty, but it is not smooth, and it IS a resource hog. My main
machine is a P166, 32mb, Pure 3D, which is the CPR recommended
settings, and even with the patch, the best I can do is 20fps with the
***pit on. I have to have all the details that are so praised in
these reviews turned off just to play. This includes roadside objects,
draw hills, smoke and tire effects, shadows, and sky & clouds. Add a
full field of cars to the mix and you can forget it, even on a PII300.
These 3 reviews mention nothing of these problems.
The second problem is that all 3 reviews praise the AI of the
game. Now I guess it could be someones opinion that AI that can be
beaten by 20mph average on professional settings in a 10% race is
good, but that someone is probably not very rational. Two of the
reviews actually mentioned the problem with the AI on the ovals, but
still gave high overall ratings to the gameplay and AI. You can't play
a full season with CPR because of the poor performance of the AI on
the ovals, even with the patch. It is just that bad. Not to mention
the actual performance of the AI, jerking from one side of the track
to another, stopped in the middle of a turn, repeatedly smashing into
other cars on the track, etc. I can provide countless replays of the
poor performance of the AI. These reviewers could not be playing the
same game as me and give the AI such high praise.
My last complaint is that all 3 reviews praise CPR for being a
hard-core simulation of CART racing, but fail to mention the lack of
full course yellows. This gripe may be a little more picky, but I
still think it is vaild because "no yellows" definitely takes away
from the "sim" aspects of the game.
The only reason I have made posts regarding these reviews, is
because of how misleading they are to the game buying public that
these sites supposedly serve. It frustrates me to see such unbalanced
reviews that are obviously wriiten more for Microsoft/TRI's benefit
than they are to inform me as a gamer. It is interesting to me that
when Eagle Woman Alison Hine added a rather negative CPR review to her
site several weeks ago, she was slammed by CPR enthusiasts and the
developers for not providing a more balanced review. Her original
review was actually very factual and outlined specifically her
experiences with the game, however, she did modify it to be more
"balanced". Now with the CPR patch release, she has once again
re-reviewed the product and has resorted back to her original harsh
impressions. However, she has still provided links to alternative,
positive CPR reviews, thus providing more "balance". And this is all
on her own personal site, not some commercial *** site! Why should
we, the game buying public, not expect at least that same kind of
balance from commercial sites and mags?
Sorry, enough ranting for now. I actually have had some
enjoyment with CPR on the Internet *** Zone, but the full product,
even with the patch, is just not up to par(now that is opinion). Now
that I have enhanced tracks and AI to play with on ICR2, I will wait
and see what happens further with CPR and count the days until CART
Racing 1999 arrives!
Thanks again for your hard work on The Sim Project, Sim Racing
News, and Sim Racing On-Line. These resources have enhanced my sim
racing a hundred times over.
Don Chapman
P.S. Will Sim Racing News be reviewing CPR?
Sure. It is obvious that the person doing that review knows nothing
about racing sims. Most of it was completely false and in no way
represents the game that you actually purchase. OK the pictures
in the review were real but that is about it :-)
Don't know as it has never happened. What I am looking for is a
truthful representation of the product. Anyone who has spent
a couple of hours with the game knows full well how horrible
it is. Even after the patch, I believe the oval races are still
weak. And when the AI crashes, we still go 200MPH without
slowing or yellows? What is that about? Setups without tire
temps? Oh yes that is a 92% simulation! haha.
That is nice.
--
Header address intentionally scrambled to ward off the spamming hordes.
> Exactly *which* version of Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation is this person
> using?
> It can't be the same one that was foisted on the rest of the world
> before Christmas, surely?
> After reading this post, this is a message I sent to the nobrainer who
> wrote the review:
> Just what copy of the game were you reviewing when you wrote this article?
> You state there is not much more to ask for, how about yellow flags for
> one? How about decent AI for seconds? How about being able to make a lap
> without them taking you out of the race? And by the way, I have a P266 AGP
> with a Riva 128 AND a Monster 3d connected, and the best frame rate I can
> get is 30 fps, average is 20-25. And I greatly disagree: it is in fact
> another pretty 3d accelerated face in the crowd. I suggest you look at the
> rec.autos.simulators newsgroup, you will see I am not even close to being
> the only one who feels this way! 92%? How about 42%.
% Pardon my intrusion to this fascinating thread, but isn't all that's
% written in the article an expression of one's opinion? Some of
% you may not like CPR, but if the guy likes it, so be it. If you found
% a mag that wrote reviews that matched your own thoughts exactly,
% wouldn't it be rather boring (George Orwell excepted)?
Yeh, but.... If someone's opinion is that the earth is flat or that the
sun and all other planet's and stars rotate around it... ?????? Okay,
it's sort of a free world, so one is entitled to one's opinion. And I
am not knocking anyone who like CPR, but at least realise that the world
stopped being flat about 500 years ago (for most people). So, okay, let
them like it, but at least be "realistic" about what you say about it.
The AI CPR ain't round, they're flat! And the track and grandstands
rotate around the AI, not the other way around!
% >I don't often comment on other site's reviews, but I must admit
% >this one is pretty funny!
% Style and grammar aside, I make it a point -never- to comment on
% another's review, period.
% Cheers!
% Marc 'L8BRKR' Nelson
% Sim Racing News - USA
% http://www.simproject.com/simnews
% Sim Racing News - UK
% http://sneezy.dcn.ed.ac.uk/simnews
--
**************************** Michael E. Carver *************************
Upside out, or inside down...False alarm the only game in town.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=<[ /./. [- < ]>=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
I think the point they're trying to make is not that this person is not
entitled to his opinion.
Just that He or She should get a Pulitzer Prize for FICTION!
