Videogame critic gives Scramble a B-/A- (depends on controller for grade)

[8th lutz]

http://videogamecrit...=18520#Scramble

 

I only posted to inform that the Videogame critic has reviewed a homebrew 7800 game.

Edited July 17, 2013 by 8th lutz

[Jinks]

So he gave it a A-. Only cause the controller b-... Makes sense to me.... NOT!!

[jaybird3rd]

So he gave it a A-. Only cause the controller b-... Makes sense to me.... NOT!!

It makes sense if you think of the game as a total experience. Playing a game with a poor controller isn't as enjoyable as playing it with a good controller, even though the game itself is the same.

 

VGC has assigned grades in a similar way before—his 5200 Galaxian score is two letter grades higher if played with the Trak-Ball instead of the CX52 joystick, for example—so this isn't without precedent.

[Jinks]

 

It makes sense if you think of the game as a total experience. Playing a game with a poor controller isn't as enjoyable as playing it with a good controller, even though the game itself is the same.

 

VGC has assigned grades in a similar way before—5200 Galaxian is two letter grades higher if played with the Trak-Ball instead of the joystick, for example—so this isn't without precedent.

Well an a- is pretty good. out of all hundreds 2600 titles there is only a few in the A range.

I think most collector gamers have good controllers that can afford all the newest games.

So no excuse here.. Tell that to my wife that might see a 500+ credit card bill for two of yandmans controllers..

[jetset]

Too bad his reviews are just still pics. Videos do so much more in showing off a game.

[carmel_andrews]

Sounds like the reviewer needs to get a working pair of controllers,unless he was playing it on an emulator using a pc gamepad

 

And just to remind you, playing a game with a gamepad doesn't give you the same tactile feedback as you get if you were playing the same game with pucka (i.e real) atari joysticks

[LidLikesIntellivision]

I don't agree with giving a low grade for the stock joystick unless he states clear that game was developed in a way you won't feel comfortable playing in the stock joystick.

It wasn't the case.

Stock 7800 joystick hurts your hands almost always no matter what game, so following this, all 7800 games should have B+ as a maximum grade!

 

I would prefer to say in the begining of the 7800 page. Watch out! If you're using the stock pro-line 7800 joystick, your experience will be worse. Drop the grade one letter.

 

Nevertheless, I liked to read his comments on Scramble .

[Algus]

I love the way VGC does his reviews, even though I don't always agree with him. For those who are not familiar with him, he plays on all the original hardware (and his collection rivals some of the best) and tries to grade games based on their era and competition.

 

Sometimes his rankings don't mash up with the actual review (seen him trash a game and give it a B+ and vice versa) so I tend to ignore the scores.

[PacManPlus]

Thanks for the head's up about the review

 

... I wonder if he knows that I made it selectable between two-button and one-button. i.e. you can use a CX-40 with this... it's just that the single button fires both shots and bombs at the same time.

[Trebor]

My issue with this method of grading is it impacts (practically) every game then.

 

I would argue that any game played with the stock 7800 joystick as opposed to an Arcade stick is worse. Even ones that do not require button usage such as (Ms.) Pac-Man.

 

The focus of Yurkie's 7800 controller mod, for example, eliminates the very long shaft and places a more comfortable 'ball' at the top. It affects every single game and makes any game a more pleasurable controlling experience; often resulting in better gameplay.

 

It just seems to me if you're going to start grading that way for one or two games, might as well do it for all of them. Further, what controller type(s) do you draw the line?

 

Say going from a stock NTSC joystick to a PAL gamepad bumps a full grade or even half grade, what if I am using an Arcade controller with that game? Does that mean I should bump all his scoring to a full or two full grades higher?

 

Just my two cents, but going down that path - especially just for a couple of games, seems it could become a little 'tricky' to me.

[Jinks]

I think any rapid fire like scramble and astroids comes to mind is harder on stock prolines. Bblazer ok on prolines.. but all this has nothing to do with a games rating.

It was the first I seen of this controller rating factor.. thats why i brought it up. Anyway you slice it scramble is a great game. Vgc gives us something to go on. unlike many poser raters he is a good source.