VGC games that are given an F

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strat
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Re: VGC games that are given an F

Postby strat » November 28th, 2021, 11:14 pm

Not sure if any games rated F here I'd step up for. Looking at many of them, pretty much only Castlevania 2 and Goonies 2 I'd ever step foot in the same room as (not counting NES X-Men which is the one of the few awful games I got back in the day).

Keith Courage in Alpha Zones got a D-. I have some fun ripping through it. The worst part is not knowing if you're gonna land on spikes but the basic feel of slashing enemies is pretty good.

Ironically I would invert the grades for Circle of the Moon and Harmony of Dissonance (on GBA). CotM isn't perfect but it's a solid B+ at the least. HoD would be a low C.

VicViper
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Re: VGC games that are given an F

Postby VicViper » November 29th, 2021, 3:14 am

Most of the 3D Sonic games' ratings from 2005 onward don't make much sense to me.

Lost World Wii U and Rise Of Lyric's ratings would look fine to me if they were completely swapped. Lost World's a game that flip flops in quality constantly, but it's never quite below "mediocre" (story and writing aside, woof, that writing). Its biggest fault is that it utterly fails at teaching players the main mechanics (especially the parkour system, I had to finish the game first on Wii U to understand it later on PC). Rise Of Lyric always is mediocre at best, but at its worst it's a complete glitchy toss. You can tell the developers got absolutely crushed with the small deadlines and having to develop for a console that could not run the game's engine without MASSIVE concessions. I feel bad for the devs, they were pegged as laughing stocks while they were the actual victims.

06 was very bad and I understand the F, but you could gleam pockets of brilliance in the level design that would've been more noticeable with the more polished controls (the 360 Demo was even a more advanced build than the finished game by a matter of months! Imagine that!). We saw what 06's potential was with what the fanmade Project P-06 did, and most of what it did was control tweaks and giving so many gameplay options (as someone who never liked the straight "air dash" of the original, giving the choice to have it curved was a godsend). The level design is 100% the same, and yet the game now plays about as solidly as Adventure 1, 2, or Heroes (albeit it's still a little too loose on movement). Despite that, we'll never get the true 06, the game was so cut down for the release that the story had to be cut down and simplified for it too, on top of levels missing. As is for the original, I understand the F, but for me it's never gonna be lower than a D, because once you get accustomed to the very raw and unpolished controls, nearly everything else clicks.

As opposed to that, Forces would've deserved an F because the level design is just not there at all, controls are bad, it's way too easy and short, and the story is a complete abortion to the point where the director of strategy and community relations at Sega of Japan (Aaron Webber) hilariously had so many negative comments towards its early script from 2016 (and yet it didn't get revised that much). There ain't any potential to be tapped there, if you know how to play the game perfectly, it's still lackluster as hell. D+ is actually very generous to it IMO.

Unleashed's F is one of the biggest upsets on this site. I'll grant though, the game runs so bad that I can personally not bring myself to finishing it, and I hate that it runs terrible because the game itself is actually pretty damn good (and it might be the best reason to get an Xbox Series X because backwards compatibility boosted it to a constant 60 FPS!). Both Day and Night stages are good, but oddly enough, the Night stages sometimes get my preference. I'll never get why the they get so much flak, it's basically a competent BTA in which the defensive options are more about blocking than evading. Platforming is heavy yeah... but I see it like a "Castlevania" type of heavy. You have to be dedicated in every jump above a bottomless pit. Some see it as uncomfortable, I see it as both suspenseful and exciting (and heartbreaking when I miss).

To talk about something else than Sonic: Castlevania Judgment. It's actually rather fun with a regular controller, and in retrospect, alot of the redesigns and character development added are fine (don't you diss my good boy Cornell!). Most of the criticism is centered around the game being played with the Wiimote and how brainless the "Shake Shake Shake Shake" combos are (which... they are), but even if I were to accept that the games should only be tested with the controller that came with the console, that's not how some other games were tested on the site. For Super Smash Bros. Brawl, the critic seem to mostly talk about the Wiimote/Nunchuk combo, and barring that I absolutely disagree that the combo is a comfortable option, the GameCube controller was mentioned, and not the Wiimote sideways, which would've on paper been the most available way to play Smash at the time.

And it was complete garbage.

I guarantee Brawl would've never had a B+ had the game been tested solely with the Wiimote sideways, and Castlevania Judgment would've at least been bumped a letter or two if tested with a regular controller. It's not like Castlevania Judgment was a Metroid: Other M scenario.

Star Fox Adventures is such a dead horse now, but even if I have visceral hatred for its betrayal of tone within the series, character assassination of Fox (whose dialogue was barely modified from the early script with Saber), and dumping Krystal as the second main playable character, I wouldn't say it's that deserving of an F? Its first half is fairly decent, but the game loses steam fairly quickly and becomes pretty formulaic. But I struggle to say that it's "bad", just "mundane".

Tomb Raider IV: The Last Revelation NEEDS another attempt. I'd say try the PS1 version instead of the Dreamcast version.

I would argue that Bubsy 1 and Bubsy 3D should swap grades. At least Bubsy 3D is somewhat morbidly interesting. What? It's just swapping an F- for an F? Well, still. I hate Bubsy 1. >.>

CaptainCruch
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Re: VGC games that are given an F

Postby CaptainCruch » November 29th, 2021, 5:49 am

strat wrote:
CaptainCruch wrote:Two games:
Double Dragon (rated F by VGC) - I played this for hours when I was a kid. I liked the game a lot. Especially because it has a two player mode. Also, the graphics and music are rather nice. But yeah, a lot of flickering and maybe a little hard to control in comparison with the NES version. Still, I think it is a decent game. But maybe that's just nostalgia speaking. C+


Is this the Master System version? He gave the VCS, 7800 and Genesis versions an "F" as well and they all have 2-player co-op.


Yes, I meant the Master System version :). However, I also think the Genesis version is a little better than a F too, now you mention it.

jon
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Re: VGC games that are given an F

Postby jon » November 29th, 2021, 5:44 pm

2Xtreme (PS1) is as good an F game as you'll find. There's definitely some fun there.

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VideoGameCritic
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Re: VGC games that are given an F

Postby VideoGameCritic » November 30th, 2021, 8:41 pm

jon wrote:2Xtreme (PS1) is as good an F game as you'll find. There's definitely some fun there.


The best F game huh? Kind of like Jumbo Shrimp??

Cafeman
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Re: VGC games that are given an F

Postby Cafeman » December 1st, 2021, 8:53 am

There ought to be a key, or paragraph, describing the thought process behind the VGC letter grading. Maybe there is? What exactly earns a game an F, or an F- ? Regardless, other than the quick feeling of outrage that his onetime F that Atari 5200 Star Raiders was given (Changed to a C now), VGC's harsh reviews are entertaining to me and I appreciate telling it like you see it.

I just perused Atari 5200, Sega CD, and Sega Genesis looking for an F review I disagree with. Overall I can't defend most of them but:

Genesis Cyborg Justice got an F. Readers gave it a C. Now, this isn't anything special, but its move set and slick character animation always made it fun to me. Especially 2-player mode. I love tearing the torso off my enemy to reap some energy. This is a C game to me.

Genesis Jurassic Park: The Lost World got an F. Readers gave it a B+. I can see VGC not enjoying it and finding it tedious. But if you have the time and you stick with the game, you'll find a number of cool surprises, and the missions aren't that long or difficult early on. The 'bonus stages' show 3D effects that no other Genesis game pulled off! This is a B- game to me.

goldenband
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Re: VGC games that are given an F

Postby goldenband » December 1st, 2021, 11:49 am

I took a browse through the reviews for systems I care about, and honestly I don't see many F grades that I'd object to. Of the games I'd rate differently myself, some are games that are kinda trashy but fun anyway, like Steel Harbinger (PS1) or Bugs (Atari 2600).

Others are games I enjoyed but predictably aren't in the Critic's wheelhouse. My wife and I had a blast playing through Iron Helix, Panic, and Wirehead on Sega CD, but the Critic seems to be allergic to that kind of cerebral, mapmaking, methodical-planning kind of game. (The FMV era is not a good match for the VGC. :D )

The only F grades that surprise me are all on the NES: 8 Eyes, Godzilla, Goonies II, and Section Z. 8 Eyes and Godzilla are flawed but have enough clever ideas that they don't strike me as F-grade games.

Section Z is one of the better early NES releases, but it requires some routing, planning, and puzzle-solving -- again, not really the Critic's thing. Goonies II is pretty great in some ways, frustrating in others, but definitely a mapmaker's kind of game. (There's a trend here!)

I'm also a little surprised by Exo Squad for Genesis, but I appreciate the fact that the Critic wasn't swayed by the snazzy graphics. Still, it's more of a C- game than an F game in my book. I think this points at another one of the Critic's pet peeves -- a control scheme that's even a little bit unintuitive is a huge demerit in his book, whereas it doesn't bother me as much.

BTW I'm going to keep beating the drum that Destination Earthstar on NES needs a re-review -- not because it needs a better grade than F (it doesn't), but because the review is totally incomplete and doesn't mention the side-scrolling half of the game, which has all the challenge (and 99% of the frustration). I was disappointed to see a huge list of planned re-reviews on Patreon a while back, but with no mention of this game. Maybe someday my drumbeats will be heard!

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ASalvaro
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Re: VGC games that are given an F

Postby ASalvaro » December 2nd, 2021, 3:02 pm

just spotted a game i was shocked The Critic gave an F to
Section Z on the NES....i always liked that game and i always thought it was a classic
and i was suprised by the F


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