So as I did for my previous favorite game SoaSE, I'll be scouring the web for Elemental reviews and posting them here. That way there will be a single location where we can navigate to all the reviews of the game, for easy reference.
If you happen to find one I don't post, leave a comment below it in the following format:
I hope this will be made sticky by someone from SD like my previous thread was in SoaSE.
Metacritic Average
English Reviews:
**********************************************************************************
NEOSEEKER
9/10
http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/Games/Reviews/elemental_war_of_magic/
Eurogamer
BIG Download
Verdict: Must Own
http://news.bigdownload.com/2010/09/07/review-elemental/
IGN
6 / 10
http://pc.ign.com/articles/111/1117649p1.html
Gameshark
C
http://www.gameshark.com/reviews/3607/p_0/Elemental-War-of-Magic-Review.htm
Gamespot
4 / 10
http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/elementalwarofmagic/review.html
GamerNode
2 / 5
http://gamernode.com/reviews/9442-elemental-war-of-magic/index.html
GameInformer
6.5 / 10
http://gameinformer.com/games/elemental_war_of_magic/b/pc/archive/2010/08/31/review.aspx
Giantbomb
Rock, Paper, Shotgun
""At the moment, I think “unfinished” is too harsh a phrase. I’d lean towards “a bit shoddy”.""
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2010/08/30/impressions-of-elemental-war-of-magic/
Joystiq
Destructoid
PC Gamer
70 / 100
http://www.pcgamer.com/2010/09/02/elemental-war-of-magic-review/
G4 X-Play
2/5
http://g4tv.com/games/pc/63836/Elemental-War-of-Magic/review/
Shacknews
No score at this time.
http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/65347
1 UP
C+
http://www.1up.com/do/reviewPage?cId=3181116
Fidgit
"I guarantee it's not going to be like anything you'll read from any other reviewer."
hhttp://fidgit.com/archives/2010/08/elemental_the_review.php
RPGWatch
"Elemental is still 2-3 patches away from being ready for prime time. When and if those patches are done, Elemental has the potential to be one of those few games that stays on your computer for years as a fun gaming experience."
http://www.rpgwatch.com/show/article?articleid=159&ref=0&id=412
OutOfEight
5/8
http://www.outofeight.info/2010/08/elemental-war-of-magic-review.html
GameEnema
6/10
www.gameenema.com/2.shtml
GamePro
3.5/5
http://www.gamepro.com/article/reviews/216449/elemental-war-of-magic/
Non-English Reviews:
iPon
57%
http://ipon.hu/jatekok/elemental_war_of_magic_%E2%80%93_elementalis_bakloves/825/
Meristation
6.5/10
http://www.meristation.com/v3/des_analisis.php?pic=PC&id=cw4c7d415c6ed86&idj=cw4911603a40884
Gamestar
79/100
http://www.gamestar.de/spiele/elemental-war-of-magic/test/elemental_war_of_magic,44740,2317608.html
here's a link to the RPGwatch review.
It's a pretty good one, really. He clearly put some effort into writing that one.
This one: http://www.zonejeu.info/2010/08/test-elemental-war-of-magic.html
still in French is more positive but doesn't give a rating.
Conclusion
Elemental : War of Magic est un titre avec un énorme potentiel développé par un petit studio qui n'a malheureusement pas pu attendre d'avoir terminé son jeu pour le sortir. Le résultat en est un incroyable gâchi, une mine d'or d'idées et de concepts rassemblés dans un univers intéressants et couverts par un style graphique original, qui se retrouvent complètement gâchés par des bugs omniprésents et un manque d'accessibilité qui le réserveront au plus persévérant. Elemental avait le potentiel pour concurrencer Civilization V, et a râté le coche. Nous restons optimistes en espérant que Stardock règle les problèmes dans les semaines à venir, mais on vous conseille tout de même d'attendre plus de nouvelles avant de vous lancer.
Elemental : War of Magic is a title with enormous potential developped by a small studio which unfortunately couldn't wait to have finished thier game before releasing it. the result is an incredible mess, a gold mine of ideas and concepts assembled in an interesting universe and given an original graphical style, which are totally spoiled by bugs and a lack of accessibility which restrict it to the most persevering. Elemental had the ppotential to compete with Civilization V, and missed. We reamin optimistic hoping that Stardock fixes the issues in the weeks to come, but we still advise you to wait for more news before picking it.
Excellent translation LDiCesare you got it spot on. thumbs up!
RAT
How did 1UP play multiplayer when it isn't even ENABLED! The screen shots are all taken from this website.
Umm, is there a pirated version that has multiplayer LAN or something? The facts don't add up.
yup, I was reading the review even though I find 1ups reviews more comedy then anythign else...
And what do I see in the review?? They mention Multiplayer.. like you can play it! hahaha.
How can you play multiplayer when its not even up yet? lmoa, fail review is fail.
I would think fans would enjoy the 1up review. He gives it a C+ rating when his words, what he actually wrote, is clearly something more like D, not much good to say at all. I don't think the reviewers have special copies. If they bother to mention multiplayer at all, the other reviewers have mentioned it doesn't work right now.
Failure to read where we already discussed how this is possible (in this same thread) is also fail.
Failure to comprehend that the reviewer was making it up as he went along is also fail.
I have returned, will update the list today.
Rock, Paper, Shotgun has their "impressions" up. There's no score, and from the conclusion it doesn't sound like they will be doing a standard review:
Generally speaking, I’m a little conflicted. On one hand, the game doesn’t have enough structure to understand whether my decisions are wise or bloody stupid. I don’t know if I’m doing well or badly, and that I don’t know how to upgrade troops – and, c’mon! There surely must be a way to just give these dudes who have decent XP a better spear, yeah? – implies I’m missing much. On the other hand, playing standardly and walking the map without a real threat, ignoring the mass of spells in favour of the army-destroying chain-lightning and all that… well, I’m not sure how much I need to learn now. There’s the possibility that Elemental is a complex game that doesn’t explain itself which you don’t need to understand to win. And, for a strategy game, that’s the worst of both worlds. The missing link is the AI. If we get to the famously brutal Galactic Civilization style of AI, then players will have to engage with the system at a high level to succeed… which will just leave the game’s problem being one of explaining itself how to achieve that high level of skill.
We don’t have any of that now and, as such, I’m stepping away from it.
He did recommend people pick up AoW:SM instead, so you couldn't really add this one to the plus column.
Updated, thanks Tridus!
"So, is it all a disaster? Well, the A.I. problems are fixed to some degree by the robust multiplayer (if you can find friends willing to slog through the ugliest visuals since finger-painting class) [Editor's Note: At the time of the game's release, no multiplayer options were available. However, once those features are available, the author wants to clarify that they should mitigate any problems he encountered with the game's current A.I.]."
^^ This is why I dont take reviews seriously... ever... The dude talks about multiplayer when its not even out yet! lmao what a loser.
He posted a response about that, actually. His badly worded point was that once it's up, MP will make up for the AI issues somewhat. I'm not sure about that, but he wasn't trying to say that he was playing MP.
Neoseeker's review is up too. 9/10, editors choice. This one is so positive it's hard to figure out how all the reviewers are all talking about the same game (actually reminds me of the forums some ). Here's my favorite quote:
He's reviewing:
For the record, everything to follow is based on version 1.06 -- one version after the day 0 patch and packing mostly bugfixes and balance changes. Now that all that's out of the way...
Which is interesting. I don't know that the other reviewers mention the version much.
edit: I also see a picture of a dragon in their screenshots. Are dragons in the game, because someone told me they were not or were being removed. I forget which?
i come back to Gamekult in french who puts a 3/10.
QUOTE : 'complètement déséquilibré (il faudra une armée d'unités de corps à corps pour éliminer ne serait-ce qu'un mage)'
= completly unbalanced ( you will need an army of soldiers to simply kill 1 mage)...
That's absurd, i really don't know where the writter saw this.I think he wasn't playing the same game...
1 more time reviews sucks anyway.
updated!
What on earth was that reviewer playing? Im begining to think some of these reviewers have pirated versions or something.
First 1up reviewer cant see the ALERTS after every unit and building is finished.. and now this dude cant kill a mage?? Come on now.. Ive killed mages with one or two units.. he cant do it with a huge group?
Well it's in French but here is the link : http://www.gamekult.com/tout/jeux/fiches/J000093507_test.html.
So 3/10 for a a guy who either just look 1 mn in the game or just read what someone else wrote somewhere.That's my only explanation.
Ok thats fine.. but what about him saying there is NO ALERTS WHEN YOU FINISH TRAINING UNITS OR BUILDINGS?
Thats ridicolous.. the first thing I saw when i started this game up (after building a city and making some units/buildings, was I saw the NOTICE/ALERTS about what has been made...
This dude says its not in the game or that he didnt notice them? How can you say something is not in the game when it is? There are alerts when you make stuf.. in all the versions... makes no sense to me for reviewers to complain about things when they are actually in the game if they look hard enough!
Wow, that Neoseeker review comes off like a sale pitch or an overly enthusiastic pamphlet.
I'm glad the "reviewer" liked it, but not a single mention of the bland and gimpy magic system, ridiculously ineffectual champions, dearth of unit choices, lack of meaningful faction differences, broken combat mechanics and so on.
Ruined your day huh?
Nope just seems odd in comparison to the other reviews and the reactions of this site's own fans and posters.
I understand though, we are only allowed to challenge bad reviews as being written by tools of some shadow gaming conspiracy and absurdly high outliers must be accepted as gospel.
Nah, I don't agree its a 9 game, I just like getting you mouth foaming fanatics angry:)
Honestly, I was more trying to suppress guffaws while I read it... so outside of the immorality of turning in such a non-review (thus lying to his boss about work done and deceiving the buying public as to gamebreaking issues) I appreciate the inherent comedy.
Then again, given your aggressive response, is it possible you were said reviewer Rune? If so, good game... you got a chuckle outta me.
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