Avault feedback

I got this message from Craig Miller at Avault. At this point I would like to say that I am just the messenger...... Paul

So in other words he did not review the complete final product. He reviewed a gold master with a photocopied manual. Hmmmm I have an early (May build) of GPL (don't ask) and it does not go with the review. And I wonder why I trust some sites (and magazines) content more than others....

>So in other words he did not review the complete final product. He reviewed >a gold master with a photocopied manual. Hmmmm >I have an early (May build) of GPL (don't ask) and it does not go with the >review. And I wonder why I trust some sites (and magazines) content more >than others.... it's an issue to be considered. Any magazine that you see just released on the shelves today that has a review of products may really be lying to you about how complete the code is beign reviewed. While a Gold CD and manual photocopied doesn't mean it's not GMC, It's an issue which needs to be picked uover and considered. For instance, the rash of Half life reviews in this month's UK press. While reliably informed that the last set of levels is still being finsihed, i'm not viewing the 96% it got in PC Gamer too credibily. I mean, it's fantastic, yes, but all the continued exposure and exclusive press coverage means people are seeing games and evaluating them earlier and earlier. Competition between mags is forcing this upon us. I personally aplaud some mags which have a commitment to only reviewing finsihed code, but they are few and far between, and invaribly, as the content seems "old", they don't sell as well. I guess the other queston is one of previews and exclusivity itself. Titles a long way out are singled out as mega-hits, and followed through. You can't expect a mag to do this and at the say "whoops, it's shite". Magazine's and products "buyer beware". Z.

Off topic I know, but do you really think Half-Life is fantastic? I thought it was another "Ho-hum, here-we-go-again Doom, Quake, Unreal" sort of game. Take Quake with the Aliens patch and you've pretty much got it. Agreed. In my experience people decide what they want to buy a long time before final review based upon previews, screenshots etc, and it would take a mightily bad review to change their mind. Mags tend not to give really bad reviews anyway, and it's pretty difficult to U-turn on the fawning praise of the previews. Cheers! John

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> >For instance, the rash of Half life reviews in this month's UK press. While > >reliably informed that the last set of levels is still being finsihed, i'm not > >viewing the 96% it got in PC Gamer too credibily. I mean, it's fantastic, yes, > >but all the continued exposure and exclusive press coverage means people are > >seeing games and evaluating them earlier and earlier. > Off topic I know, but do you really think Half-Life is fantastic? I > thought it was another "Ho-hum, here-we-go-again Doom, Quake, Unreal" > sort of game. Take Quake with the Aliens patch and you've pretty much > got it.

My opinion, off topic, is that Half Life is one of the best FPS games to come along in a great while, probably the best Single Player FPS ever... Obviously several people wont like it for the fact that it's a FPS, but I've seen people that normally dont like FPS games LOVE Half Life... just a matter of opinion... Brian Short

Actually in my experience, most reviews have been a 180 u-turns from the previews. Most of PC GAMER's preview are REALLY optimistic. Never have I seen them put down a game in a preview and that's mainly because its just that, a preview. Since mags aren't(or rather, shouldn't) suppose to review unfinnished code they mark them as previews and just say how good it looks blah blah blah, but when the game is finished they can let the guns fly(be it good or bad). Its actually annoying because you can trust the previews but I don't really see a fair solution.. anyway just my 2 cents... -YUBS