Robbie Bach Exposes Stunning Catalogue of Microsoft Lies

Yeah, it is :).



Prime was perfect, to be honest. I can't think of any way to improve it gameplay-wise. Perfect conversion to 3D of the 2D games. It has a totally different story, and totally different levels and aims.



LOL, I loath Halo I, but I haven't played the second so I can't agree/disagree.



But it's a different game. The only things are the same are the style of graphics and gameplay. If you found the first one good, you should love the second.

I think you could spend 1 1/2 years (that's how long it was in development) just designing the level. The design of the game is impeccable, and I wouldn't like the task.

As we have said before, if you go by gameplay prime is 10/10. Even now the graphics are excellent. Deducting marks just because it uses an older game engine is stupid.

We don't consider classics such as A Link to the Past to be rubbish, just because they came out years ago. They'd probably give it 0/10!

*Fumes* If they do that then they shouldn't be reviewing games...

First, my love:

sadly i did not love the first one because trying to play a first person game with Oot controls hurt my wee little head. It seems to me that they are just shooting themselves in the foot becasue i perosnaly know a few peopel who love the old metroids way more than i did that can't play the new one cause the controls arent to there likeing. And the real rediculous thing is now the DS version does indeed play liek a normal FPS proving that it is a perfectly viable option for the game, i understand why those shose the control setup they did but i wish they gave me the option. I played way to many hours of quake3 and halo one to have to hold in a button to strafe.

secondly, the reviews:

thats why i like the setup ign has (even though they can be kind of worthless) they give you individual scores for each category and then there perosnal overall. Did prime1 get 10/10? most of the places i saw gave it that(or their equivalent). So when i game comes out 2 years later(roughly) with the same grapgics and game play its more of the same, and the same may be fantastic, but its what most of video game land reffers to as an expansion pack. They didnt have to spend moeney developing a new engine, new pysics, new tools, why i do i have to pay them 50 bucks for an entirely new game instead of 20-30 like an expansion pack normaly costs. What did the part of the development team that made the original engien do for the past two years? probably start an engine for metroid 3 for revolution, which when it coe sout will cost 50 bucks. There probably wasn't even as much staff involved. The score a game magazine gives a game isn't just used to judges its artisic merit its used to determien weather or not said game is worth my hard earned money. I personly dont see spending the same amount for more of a 2 year old game, no matter how good it is. If they sold that game for 30 bucks i bet it woudl have gotten a 10/10 from everyone.

EDIT: actually more of an afterthought, look at akatari Darmacy(spelling?) people are raving about how good that game is and giving it fantastic scores, but they also realize its a puzzle game that didnt necesarily take an incredibly long time to develope so they sell it for $20, and as far as $20 games go, its probably the best, compared to say, halo2 half-life2, GTASA (whatever your preffered a-list game this year is) its not in the same category. Like moneky ball for example, one of most fun game si have ever played... i still think it should have cost no more than $30. or animal crossing? can you honestly believe nintendo had the balls to charge people 50 for that game? that was just an N64 convert, and they did nothing to help the graphics, when being compared to other similarly priced games, its not a 10. not for my money.
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So your saying that Katamari Damacy took as long to make as Metroid Prime 2. There's alot of game that can't be measured. BRAINSTORMING, LEVEL DESIGN DISCUSSION, STORYBOARDING. I mean not that Metroid 2 had new storytelling or a new story to tell. But it's brilliance comes from the game pacing, the ability to make you keep backtracking and sherlock holmesing around for new power-ups and have it be loads of fun. The Halo 2 single player is almost a throwaway. Take lots of enemies, throw them at you. Reload and repeat. </spolier>There was only one earth level!!! WTF sucka?! The second Halo ring was cool but come on. It's like I'm playing one again. And the Elite levels, WTF x2, it's all about Master Cheif man!!! </spoiler> Man, I hope the spoiler tags work! Sorry if I ruined anything there. And the enemy AI, some times I can just run right by them and clear the checkpoint. I'm not saying Halo 2 is bad and I'm not saying Metroid Prime 2 is the best. They're both fantastic pieces of art. And I must say, Metroid Prime 2 has some of the best art direction ever! Hands down. And the two in a head to head, Metroid Prime 2 wins out for me. Much more engaging and lively world, everything breathes life and sways and things eat other things, animals shrug snow off themselves, creatures climb the walls and hibernate in creavases.

You know what I really hate, reviewers that say there's more than one way to play Halo 2 single player. Like saying you can sneak around and NOT fight enemies to create a new way to play or how you can GO AROUND back of the tower to make a new fighting experience is almost like saying playing Pac-Man everytime is different. The ghosts f**king move all haphazardly, it's new everytime!!! NO! Everytime I play Halo 2, I have the same objectives, the same enemy spawn points, the same flying missions, the same David Cross OSDT comedy quips. Sans maybe the different difficulty levels. But the AI isn't even that grand. It's the sheer volume of enemies that makes it hard. Not nescessarily the Ai of one enemy Brute.

see heres the funny thing about that, if you dont consider each play through halo a different experience there is little reason to play through more than a few levels of the game as there really arent new enemies on a regular basis. The thing that makes it great is the "30 seconds of fun". The idea being if you can make on thing fun to do it can be reapeated over and over with mild repretion and still eb enjoybale. Example (halo1 or 2) you walk in a room... theres 4 grunts and an elite, you toss a plasma grendae on one grunt, he freaks and runs twords his temates who scater... he blow up, you rush in firing on the elite and then crush his forhead head when close enough, which scare the grunts so they turn to run then you take two of them out with your gun adn run up on the last one and smack it in the back of the head. Thats halo. sure you can edit the order of attacks, maybe start with a sniper instead of a plasma, but basically, seeing them react to each other and takign advantge of the situation is the fun of it. you must repeate the sequence listed above 200 times by the time the first game is over, and i know you love it. So yes, every time you play it is basically the same, but it can be handled differently each time to keep it entertaining, feeling ballsy? skip the long range attack and rush in with a pistol and a prayer, play it safe and sit behind a box and toss frag grenades where they wont see then snipe them from your safe point. there are tons of combinations and tons of terrains so that each and ever encounter will indeed play out differently. how bout metroid where i walk in a room, kill whatvere enemy(ies) happen to be there with my ever so usefull lock on button, then hop around till i find out all the fun information about the flora and fauna i can then try and figure out how this room firs into the puzzle and move on not knowign what good that room is, thankfully ill be back in half an hour, and then again an hour after that... maybe thats your idea of a good time but its not for me, nintendo didnt have the bals to try and make a full on FPS cause little kids woul dget their faces kickied in if they had to *GASP* aim on their own, so yeah, bravo to the guys who made metroid, because they managed to take the main draw of a FPS shooter and replace it with platform jumping, a feet no one else was stupid enough to attempt! they rule! Thank goodness they made us metroid two, now i have even more room to do the same thing in over and over again, escept in metroid,un like halo, you literaly do get to go through the same room over and over, hurrray! if i wanted to walk aroudn and solve puzzles i would play a lucasarts game. I understand the desire to make it into a puzzle solving/exploring game as they are trying to make it liek the old one, but there is no reason to restrict people from playing it the way that most makes sense to them. I think playing an FPS Goldeneye style is retarded perosnaly (even though i used to play that game constantly) but they still put the option in halo! i woudl take the two points away from prime just on the principal that their dum asses just refused to put the option in even though tons of peopel complained about it. AND THEN THEY LET YOU PLAY IT THAT WAY ON THE DS. jerks!

sorry needed to vent, i wrote this stream of thought and in a rush cause im about to go home from work, flame away flamers.
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Whatever the reason is that you can't f**king adapt to a new control scheme now matter how much you hate it, does not mean you should bash it for being different. Hello Monkey Ball, Goldeneye, and every other game where you had to LEARN how to play. Sure it's awkward at first. And yes, I agree they should dual stick the bastard and get rid of the lock on. But one hour into Metroid Prime 1, I was a pro. And the game is not supposed to be about FPSing around like every other game. Remember Halo only had vehicles and the two weapon max for innovation. This game is all about exploration. And it always has been since day one. The combat is more focused now though, and it's easy enough to be precise and accurate, but it's really all about exploring, finding new items to open new areas or to use to beat certain enemies and such. And that's the whole draw of it. If you don't like treasure hunting, go play the usual FPS killfests.

And you're wrong about Metroid Prime being the same experience each time you traverse through the same rooms. Yes, everytime you start a new save file, the gameplay experience will be basically the same with the same enemies and hidden power-ups, BUT as you progress, the rooms change!, the enemies morph into stronger ones!, certain new plot points open up. Like for instance, when you're in the research facility in the snow covered Phendrana Drifts in the first one, it's all dark and run down. You make your way through with relatively no inteference. BUT, when you power some s**t up and activate some 3-D holo models and pick up some power-ups, the whole place comes alive. Metroids are popping out of their encasements, space pirates are dropping down from ledges, enemies are crashing through walls. It's insane. For someone who hasn't played Metroid for more than a half hour, you sure do have alot of unfounded opinions.

Ok, I didnt said it, you said it by yourself , you`ll spend whats left of this year and the entire next year playng Halo II, cause we all know that Conker (did you see Konker first level videos? they really stinks) and Jade Empire is not enough, you know 12 months and three weak games?
By the way, i was playng Halo II and its disaponinting, what a fraud, its a dirty, simply, plane FPS, Its the same experience than Halo I, on the other hand Metroid is a FPS, with Action ,exploring, solving puzzles, in the end its a better game experience with a superb gameplay, no doubt about it. I think IGN score of Metroid is fair, but the Halo score is a joke, i would score Halo 2 for less than 8,8 , and you know why ? cause gameplay and gamefun in single player sucks. Multiplayer is fine, but the core of the game is the single player option, and believe me : it`s boooring.
Fortunatly for you its not a boring game so you can spend this year and the next one playng your only Halo 2

okay, completely ignoring the foolish comparisons of halo 2 and prime 2, both excellent and very different games, I'm going to have some fun paraphrasing! Ready? here we go!!!!


Spong: Microsoft is teeeehhhhh eeeevilllll!!!! They want to take over the world!!! We knew it all along, but they called us crazy. WERE NOT CRAZY! You see, we can take an interview from a financial magazine and editorialize it to death, confirming what everyone knew from the beginning....Microsoft likes YOUR MONEY! Don't look at us like that, we have PROOF!................ What's that? You already know, and don't care?! Oh... then let's find something else to be cynical t**ts about.


Spong: always good for a laugh when you get too bored reading professional journalism.

This "news" article is the biggest load of garbage I have ever read. For a start, Microsoft never made any claims about XBOX 2 playing games ONLY. Secondly, they're doing what their customers have asked for!!! I for one have actually sent them feedback and a wish list quite a while back, that included some of the "trojan" features this MS hating writer is blathering about. The current generation of XBOX hardware is light years ahead of the Playstation 2... Full 5.1 digital support, HDTV support which takes the graphical capability of games on the XBOX far higher than the Playstation 2 users could ever dream of. On top of that, we have built in support for online gaming, which has been extremely well planned and executed, giving a uniform experience across all online games, voice chat in all games and guaranteed cheat free environment. On top of that, the live service has gone through several upgrades, and likely will go through several more due to the built in hard drive, putting MS easily generations ahead of Sony in terms of online service evolution and capabilities.
To counter some of the fanboy arguments in the forum, claiming that the XBOX have had very few notable games in the last year, how about we take a look at the gamespot advanced search feature and get some figures to dispell the lies...

Games scoring equal to or above 9 during 2004:
XBOX = 10
PS2 = 7
GC = 4

Games scoring equal to or above 8 during 2004:
XBOX = 47
PS2 = 49
GC = 25

Not bad for a console that has less than half the install base of the Playstation 2. Everybody is of course going to prefer different types of games, so if you prefer Japanese games over European and American ones, then you will probably stick with Playstation. I know where my next gen money is going, and i'm sure that i'll be getting damned good value for money with all the features currently available in current gen XBOX on top of the new features they will be adding for the next. If you want a console that does nothing but play games, Nintendo's offering is going to be your only choice in the next generation of consoles... To chastise MS for doing exactly what Sony is also aspiring to do, is transparent fanboyism at its worst. How about you guys stick to the news and facts and leave your obviously biased opinions at the door.

LUPOS, you need to realise that most people just think that Metroid's control scheme is different. One you get used to it suits the type of game perfectly. You don't seem to understand that Prime is not a shoot 'em up. It is an exploration game with shoot 'em up elements.

Next, you need to remember that not everyone is an experienced game player. Metroid is easily to pick up for anyone from beginner to expert. Several people I know picked up the Prime controls in 5 mins - neither of them could pick up the typical FPS controls in that time. I myself have problems with the two analgoue sticks - it's just not natural. Prime's is.

Prime is a game of exploration. Yes, you go in a shoot a few things, but then you must backtrack, remmeber where you've been, look for new and hidden openings. Prime has much more depth than the ultra-shallow Halo.

This is exactly what I think. When will Xbox people realise that Halo 2 is standard FPS? I prefer 5 year old Unreal Tournament in multiplayer.

I would give Halo and II 5/10. They're average, no worst, no better. It's not an excellent game - it's got standard gameplay and no innovation at all anywhere but are bearable if you get along with the controls.

I don't believe it. These controls are designed for the game rather than using standard FPS controls. Standard FPS controls in Metroid simply wouldn't work. They're blind if they can't see that. Either way, they can't have spent enough time playing the game to realise how similar it is to the others. Prime is better than Super Metroid.



Ever thought that the style of controls on the DS might be a tad different than a normal home console?

Ummm... In prime you lock on to you traget and your movements centre around it. One button held and the control stick to move.



It's called an expension pack in mindless shoot 'em ups with no story or depth. You don't moan about Square Enix charging you for each Final Fantasy game, do you?

The money goes into level design and the graphics. The time spent making these look good is considerable.



But it's NOT the same 2 year old game! It has new levels etc etc. What would be the point of developing a new engine anyway? What would it acheive? Just add to the cost... You haven't moaned about Metroid and Super Metroid being similar, so why moan about Prime and Prime 2? What about Mario Bros. and Mario Bros. 2? People don't moan about those being similar. I don't see complaints from people about OoT and MM either?

Come to that HALO and HALO 2 are SIMILAR! The development time in these can't of been that great, especially with the "Recompile for Xbox" option M$ offers developers. C'mon.

You're also talking about articstic merit. What artistic merit does Halo have? Answer: None. We've seen those characters, objectives all before. Prime has new levels, enemies and looks. It creates atmosphere through graphics music and gameplay. Art.

Also you can get Prime for £30 from Amazon. Now will you buy it?



They DID improve the graphics for GC release. However, I will agree with you that £30 is too much for this game. If they'd released it for £20 then I'd have bought it. As it is I'm waiting for Player's Choice...

Indeed you are LUPOS. You're also spelling out of it as well.

What the hell is wrong with MP2 being "more of the same"? - the first one was outstanding in terms gameplay, level design, structure, and it also looked pretty damn sweet. Not one person who played it is going to give a s**t that the sequel follows the same formula. If it 'aint broke, don't fix it.

The irony of your comments is that Halo 2 is precisely "more of the same" - a very well executed FPS but ultimately lacking in terms of depth, innovation and originality, which boils down to little more than a series of elementary shoot-outs tied together by cut-scenes and linear exploration.

What's worse is that you've never even played any of the Metroid Prime titles, and even go so far as to more or less admit that you're too mentally inept to grasp what is ultimately an extremely well conceived control system.

You're a f**king idiot...

Sorry, but that's just plain arrogance. YOU think it's average. Thousands of people who've been enjoying it's multiplayer mode would disagree.

For what it's worth, Halo 2 has provided me with some of the best multiplayer fun (LAN or Online) I've had in ages, probably since the Goldeneye/Deathtank Zwei days



Obviously I can't agree with you on the gameplay. But in regards to innovation, well, you're right, I can't think of a breakthrough freature. But to dismiss a game purely for lacking this is pointless; if you play a game that you feel has been executed perfectly, you're hardly going to care.

i dont know who said it, but someone said that the two innovative things in halo was vehicles and two weapons. HELLO!! two weapons was NOT innovative. remember golden eye? two weapons. remember perfect dark? two weapons. so no, thats totally wrong. halo only had one innovative thing, and that was the vehicles. and it still wasnt very fun in singleplayer. it bored me to death. still wanna try out multi though.

anyway.. me and a couple of friends played mp2 the other day. 4 players playing it, it was great. it was one of the better multiplayer games out there right now (even though the game is a bit short of multiplayerlvls ;(). its just plain marvelous. i didnt get a chance to play singleplayer, but i expect it to be nothing else but great. the first metroid primce was excellent. it had (and has) great graphics, and has a great controller scheme (no matter what some ppl say) and a wonderful gameplay.

id rather spend money on buying quake (which is an the best fps ever made) than ever even think about halo. BLERGH! but thats my opinion. if you like the games, good for you. its still boring to me.

Actually, the latest Unreal Tournament's have vehicles.

Ok, I've remembered one innovation! Melee attacks on opponents driving/flying vehicles, with a nice tasty grenade in the cockpit to boot!