Are you ****ing serious IGN?

[Rick88]

This is surprising coming from IGN, most of the time they're biased toward Nintendo games.

Anyways, IGN is alright in my book, they just say stupid things every now and then and give horrible review sometimes, but they're still cool. I prefer GameSpot though.

 

[blayde_axel]

Spoiler

I bet SEGA paid for that...He just pops out of nowhere and saves everybody.

that was the worst plot twist i have ever saw

Darn you silver and your messing up the spoiler tag! lol.

Well, ok, that's what I thought the ending was... darn.

 

[OddCrow]

Can't spell ignorant without IGN.
...they never seem to know what is going on...I ALWAYS disagree with those guys

 

[MechanizedDeviousFox]

Way to be original guys with the stupid "Can't spell ignorwant without IGN" thing. They're like every other reviewer out there, and they're professional for a reason.

 

[Eternalfire]

They are complaining about very unnecessary stuff about Brawl, and stuff that isn't even true, so yes, even though they played the game and I haven't, their opinions are pieces of dog****.

You are only saying this because you are a very passionate, Smash fanatic. You really, REALLY care about this game and because they are critizing it like any other game, you feel all dirty inside.

I understand. I feel that way too. I noticed some mistakes they said, but on the whole, they are alright. If it makes you feel any better, they did say that the multiplayer and stage builder were freaking awesome. It's a good thing that those two modes will be where most people will spend 95% of their time playing.

 

[icraq]

They're not great..
but in comparison to Gamespot, IGN is grand.

 

[silver777]

Darn you silver and your messing up the spoiler tag! lol.

Well, ok, that's what I thought the ending was... darn.

sorry for that

but really..

Spoiler

the story it self doesn't make sense...people poping out of nowhere, most of the fights doesn't make ANY sense whatsoever, and in the end...the final boss blows up and...the credits starts...WTF???

Sonic has the worst role ever, he only appears in ONE CUTSENCE just before the final boss so you can choose him, thats just pathetic.

:embarrass

 

[blayde_axel]

sorry for that

but really..

Spoiler

the story it self doesn't make sense...people poping out of nowhere, most of the fights doesn't make ANY sense whatsoever, and in the end...the final boss blows up and...the credits starts...WTF???

Sonic has the worst role ever, he only appears in ONE CUTSENCE just before the final boss so you can choose him, thats just pathetic.

:embarrass

lol. Ok, well, that was worth highlighting... at least I can look up all the videos now and not feel bad.

Also, surprisingly, the story-writer's past work wasn't the best, like people claim it to me. I'm looking at you, FFVII.

 

[Lord Viper]

So IGN just said that Marth and Ike are the same and no return characters changed?!?!?! Weaklings; I belive they just want attention is all. >_>

 

[Luke Groundwalker]

You are only saying this because you are a very passionate, Smash fanatic. You really, REALLY care about this game and because they are critizing it like any other game, you feel all dirty inside.

No, I can critisize a game just fine. Like with Melee, it had ton of flaws in it like wavedashing and the major amount of clones. However, all in all, it was an okay game, but Smash 64 was a lot better in terms of balance.

With Brawl, all of that has been fixed. All the past clone characters aren't clones at all, and play completely different even if they keep a similar moveset they had, they're pretty much tweaked in how the mechanics of every move to make them original. The only thing we got that is the closest to any clone is Toon Link, but even him plays quite differently with a few of his own A moves and B moves that have different effects despite them being based on Links' B moves. So essentially, clones are gone, and what's left is Luigified characters. Wavedashing is gone, too, which is a definate improvement.

The only thing bad about Brawl is Ness, Lucario, and Sonic when it comes to the character department, none of them deserve to be in the game and they are garbage characters. However, unlike with Melee, when they had Dr. Mario, Roy, and Pichu as their ****ty characters, they are at least original and tolerable. That, and the ending of the SSE. That's it.

Everyone else is amazing. To the gameplay, the new characters, the new stages, the stage builder, the assist trophies, that soundtrack that breaks the mold of any video game soundtrack possible, a fitting roster, ROB, etc. This game is gonna be great.

 

[Eternalfire]

No, I can critisize a game just fine. Like with Melee, it had ton of flaws in it like wavedashing and the major amount of clones. However, all in all, it was an okay game, but Smash 64 was a lot better in terms of balance.

With Brawl, all of that has been fixed. All the past clone characters aren't clones at all, and play completely different even if they keep a similar moveset they had, they're pretty much tweaked in how the mechanics of every move to make them original. The only thing we got that is the closest to any clone is Toon Link, but even him plays quite differently with a few of his own A moves and B moves that have different effects despite them being based on Links' B moves. So essentially, clones are gone, and what's left is Luigified characters. Wavedashing is gone, too, which is a definate improvement.

The only thing bad about Brawl is Ness, Lucario, and Sonic when it comes to the character department, none of them deserve to be in the game and they are garbage characters. However, unlike with Melee, when they had Dr. Mario, Roy, and Pichu as their ****ty characters, they are at least original and tolerable. That, and the ending of the SSE. That's it.

Everyone else is amazing. To the gameplay, the new characters, the new stages, the stage builder, the assist trophies, that soundtrack that breaks the mold of any video game soundtrack possible, a fitting roster, ROB, etc. This game is gonna be great.

Ofcourse, it's going to be great. IGN knows that this game is great. They are playing it non-stop. They just have a couple of complaints about SSE. Even with their complaints, they are still going to give this game a 9+ score because there is just so much stuff in the game.

Ofcourse, we will think it's a perfect 10, but that's because we LOVE Melee. Oh yeah, and Sonic is awesome. Lucario is pretty sweet too. I saw his FS...it's wicked.

 

[MechanizedDeviousFox]

I agree though, not trying to sound bias or anything, but the SSE does sort of feel like some sort of side scroller game just added in for the sake of having a single player story. But in it's defense, even though the majority of all the encounters make no sense at all, it's still fun to watch, as these are your favorite Nintendo characters interacting with each other, of course.

The main fun that'll come out of SSE will be just seeing them in situations they'd never be in, with characters they'd never be with, and in places they didn't even know existed. The gameplay looks like it'll be fun for a while, but it's pretty much Adventure Mode from Melee on a little bit of roids. Just add in a few cut-scenes to provide a bone-hollow setting for the character(s), have them go through, attacking plainish characters, have some items from the multiplayer thrown in too, though it makes no sense for them to pop out of no where, add a few more cut-scenes, some repetitive bosses (I have to give credit for Ridley looking bad ***, but it seems to be true that he's just a different version of Master Hand), and rinse and repeat.

Granted, I don't think I'd be looking for a deep or challenging story, as I stated before, I think it's just about seeing all your favorite characters interact. And for that, SSE does an excellent job. I think they made it come off as some sort of epic storyline, and in a sense it is, but it doesn't make too much sense, nor do any of the characters get any real development (unless you count all the times you control them and fight with them.) So for me, the SSE is a bit dissapointing. I'm not sure if they wanted it to come off as a silly sort of "what if" story, or if they tried to make a serious story, because I've seen both sillyness and seriousness in the story so far, and the mix, while not bad... is sort of weird, to say the least.

 

[RedrappeR]

What's exactly wrong with the IGN team? Because I think they do a darn good job at that website. They tend to be very fair with their reviews. That is, they are fans but don't blindly overrate games. At least I feel their site has journalistic intergrity about what they review.

As for FOX News. Much of that channel isn't half bad. They are the only conservative news channel in an overly liberal media. Don't trash them when they are the only ones who aren't pushing liberal agendas. As most other news channels look equally stupid to conservatives.

Except for Fox News's Mass Effect fiasco. They need to apologize for that. Define journalistic intergrity and then take the exact opposite. They really screwed up with that one.

Fox News sucks. I don't believe the media is liberal, and frankly when I find a station that is, I don't listen to it. I'm neither party. They lack journalistic integrity, but that's not what I'm trying to get into. I meant it in the sense(and you can vouch for the liberal media as well), that they use their stories to springboard ideals instead of focusing on the stories and reports themselves.

IGN will take a game, Give it a bad review to get a point across or get more hits. It's why a lot of people don't listen to them, and it's why I rarely do. I read their reviews, and it seems like their pandering, or trying to work out an excuse to bump down a score.

What I consider a fair review is when you look at a game for what it is, and review it as that. If it lacks polish, that's one thing. If the controls are off, that's fine. Jot that down, more power to you.

But when you see a game, that generally has a few nitpicky flaws and decide "I want to send a message to everyone who's watching this game in order to get my point across!" And decide to taylor the review and the score of the game to springboard some sort of speech instead of trying to actually review the game for what it is... that annoys me.

Sonic for the wii, and Mario and Sonic are two examples. I'll give you a non sonic game if it sounds noobish that I'm using those two if you like.

Now SatSR is FAR from a perfect game. In fact, it's only decent. You read every preview leading up to the final game, and it's a completely different tone. It's not optimistic, it just seems... fake. Like a PR piece. Even the Smash preview(which was optimistic) seemed like that. When the game finally comes up, literally, everything turned a 180. Now that COULD be legitimate, but here's where it gets off track. Nearly that ENTIRE review was trying to explain to fans WHY he scored it the way he did. The review should speak for itself(if you're going to say "reviews explain scores duh!" Please shut up. YOu know what I mean. If you don't I'll clarify.)

Now I choose Mario and Sonic because that got a GOOD score. It had the exact opposite for previews. I played Mario and Sonic. I'm contemplating whether the IGN team was on crack. They seemed to omit QUITE A FEW FLAWS from the actual review(did you like my caps thing there? It's for emphasis. Sorry, scriptwriting habit), and bumped it a 7.6.

...Really? Sonic and the Secret Rings, which is essentially a niche Sonic title gets a 6.5, not because of it's flaws because they're trying to send a message to the developers about game design(Honestly, the review is forced.) And Mario and Sonic, a game which promotes a casual family gaming experience as well as providing a good deal of Nintendo esque support gets a 7.5.

There are scores I will agree with on IGN(just as you'll agree with some News stories on Fox), but at the same time, I take everything with a grain of salt... and it's just baffling when they post something contrary to what EVERYONE ELSE has witnessed, and EVERYTHING ELSE that has been previously stated.

As for Fox news and the conservative thing, if you watch it as an editorial channel towards a conservative point of view, that's completely fine. It's meant for that, and the reason they get so much flack is that they pretend to be otherwise. However, like every news station regardless of what they weigh towards on the party line, you can't take EVERYTHING they say as 100% true, because there are times where they will throw some opinion into the mix rather than all fact.(Like that Mass Effect piece. But then again, that's not the same thing... that Mass effect thing was just ill informed stupidity.)

Otherwise, sorry if I offended you with the Fox thing. But you get my drift?


IF YOU SKIP THIS POST WILMER VAULDERAMA WILL APPEAR TO YOU IN A DREAM AND CRY TEARS OF SHAME AND DEPRAVITY. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

(just to be safe. I have a feeling a lot of tl;dr's are on there way.)

 

[OddCrow]

dont call me stupid for saying ign is ignorant. It's my opinion dude...
I just don't agree with them, they get caught up in specifics that don't matter too often.
but OMG...Compared to Gamespot these guys are as GODS.

 

[crush_T_asain]

if you know sse and brawl in general was going to be great you shouldnt let other peoples opinions cloud your own personal point of view. i didnt really see SSE as the mode you were going to play a whole lot after anyways maybe another 2-3 times through afer you beat it to get some stickers or trophies but ya it barley scratched the meat of the game. Lol its funny calling a side scroller linear (like some games have branching paths but... comon its a side scroller)
PS: Its great to have swf and BC back for a while it seemed that brawl was so great it broke the internet lol

 

[S2]

Fox News sucks. I don't believe the media is liberal, and frankly when I find a station that is, I don't listen to it. I'm neither party. They lack journalistic integrity, but that's not what I'm trying to get into. I meant it in the sense(and you can vouch for the liberal media as well), that they use their stories to springboard ideals instead of focusing on the stories and reports themselves.

IGN will take a game, Give it a bad review to get a point across or get more hits. It's why a lot of people don't listen to them, and it's why I rarely do. I read their reviews, and it seems like their pandering, or trying to work out an excuse to bump down a score.

What I consider a fair review is when you look at a game for what it is, and review it as that. If it lacks polish, that's one thing. If the controls are off, that's fine. Jot that down, more power to you.

But when you see a game, that generally has a few nitpicky flaws and decide "I want to send a message to everyone who's watching this game in order to get my point across!" And decide to taylor the review and the score of the game to springboard some sort of speech instead of trying to actually review the game for what it is... that annoys me.

Sonic for the wii, and Mario and Sonic are two examples. I'll give you a non sonic game if it sounds noobish that I'm using those two if you like.

Now SatSR is FAR from a perfect game. In fact, it's only decent. You read every preview leading up to the final game, and it's a completely different tone. It's not optimistic, it just seems... fake. Like a PR piece. Even the Smash preview(which was optimistic) seemed like that. When the game finally comes up, literally, everything turned a 180. Now that COULD be legitimate, but here's where it gets off track. Nearly that ENTIRE review was trying to explain to fans WHY he scored it the way he did. The review should speak for itself(if you're going to say "reviews explain scores duh!" Please shut up. YOu know what I mean. If you don't I'll clarify.)

Now I choose Mario and Sonic because that got a GOOD score. It had the exact opposite for previews. I played Mario and Sonic. I'm contemplating whether the IGN team was on crack. They seemed to omit QUITE A FEW FLAWS from the actual review(did you like my caps thing there? It's for emphasis. Sorry, scriptwriting habit), and bumped it a 7.6.

...Really? Sonic and the Secret Rings, which is essentially a niche Sonic title gets a 6.5, not because of it's flaws because they're trying to send a message to the developers about game design(Honestly, the review is forced.) And Mario and Sonic, a game which promotes a casual family gaming experience as well as providing a good deal of Nintendo esque support gets a 7.5.

There are scores I will agree with on IGN(just as you'll agree with some News stories on Fox), but at the same time, I take everything with a grain of salt... and it's just baffling when they post something contrary to what EVERYONE ELSE has witnessed, and EVERYTHING ELSE that has been previously stated.

As for Fox news and the conservative thing, if you watch it as an editorial channel towards a conservative point of view, that's completely fine. It's meant for that, and the reason they get so much flack is that they pretend to be otherwise. However, like every news station regardless of what they weigh towards on the party line, you can't take EVERYTHING they say as 100% true, because there are times where they will throw some opinion into the mix rather than all fact.(Like that Mass Effect piece. But then again, that's not the same thing... that Mass effect thing was just ill informed stupidity.)

Otherwise, sorry if I offended you with the Fox thing. But you get my drift?


IF YOU SKIP THIS POST WILMER VAULDERAMA WILL APPEAR TO YOU IN A DREAM AND CRY TEARS OF SHAME AND DEPRAVITY. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

(just to be safe. I have a feeling a lot of tl;dr's are on there way.)

I can see your point. But games are so subjective that your free to disagree. Sometimes people don't like good games. Or really enjoy bad games for some reason. When this happens to a reviewer they tend to get a lot of hatemail. Reviewers of big sites have pressure from fans to rate things higher than maybe they want to. Even if the game was good, perhaps they just didn't like it personally.


As for Fox News. No I don't watch or support it. But I don't think its any worse than the rest of the news channels. Most are pretty terrible and will give up intergrity to bring in viewership.

BTW, you mentioned you write scripts. I happen to do screenwriting and playwriting as well, good to see other people who share that passion.

 

[MechanizedDeviousFox]

dont call me stupid for saying ign is ignorant. It's my opinion dude...
I just don't agree with them, they get caught up in specifics that don't matter too often.
but OMG...Compared to Gamespot these guys are as GODS.

My apologies, I didn't mean it directly to YOU, but just sort of sick of that stupid saying. Just because people don't like the way they review, it warrants them to call them ignorant? Ugh, I hate the net sometimes... alot of times.

 

[Canvas]

Their opinions are dripping with Metroid fangirl-ism.

What really gets me are the character comments. Oy. Especially the fact that they know Wolf plays the same as Fox and Falco, and yet...they haven't unlocked him. Oops, good going with that one IGN. Maybe if they had unlocked him they would know most of his moves are unique from them.

People can still argue he's a clone, but there's no way you can argue he plays the same anymore. :'

 

[Chaosblade77]

Eh. They are probably right about some things that we are emphasizing too much and missing, delusions you could say. That does not mean that they are missing things though. I listened to about 45 minutes of it and heard several things that they either didn't know what they were talking about, or called out just to bring up a negative point.

That aside, they don't know much at all about Melee based on the character discussion I heard on there, so I would expect it to be quite hard for them to compare the two... I am quite interested to see their review, and Gamespot, so I can laugh at it.

 

[Tomanator33]

I just got the game today, and its not a melee clone. The game is completely reworked where only a glance at gameplay would say its like melee. The story is strange and sonic needed more screen time. ( I think he originally had more because in the first trailer you see him fighting subspace villains with Mario.) So basically after listening to that podcast, I will agree the story mode could have been better story wise, but otherwise I got the impression they disliked the game because it was different from melee.

 

[SirPainsalot]

I just got the game today, and its not a melee clone. The game is completely reworked where only a glance at gameplay would say its like melee. The story is strange and sonic needed more screen time. ( I think he originally had more because in the first trailer you see him fighting subspace villains with Mario.) So basically after listening to that podcast, I will agree the story mode could have been better story wise, but otherwise I got the impression they disliked the game because it was different from melee.

Nah.

Spoiler

SSE has a party system that makes you choose any character out of the people you recruited. I suppose as soon as the game ends, he's in your party and you can use him and any mission... I think.

 

[OddCrow]

just saying it because it's snappy word play, if they were STU(Super Technological Usurpers or s/t), I would say Stu(pid) lol... you get it I hope. just...IGN just doesn't float my boat, in fact, it sinks it like the titanic,they're just too...bleh....

 

[silver777]

The story is strange and sonic needed more screen time. ( I think he originally had more because in the first trailer you see him fighting subspace villains with Mario.)

Spoiler

No, Sonic doesn't need more screen time. Infact he shouldn't be in the SSE at all, it is pretty obvious that he was not intended to be in and SEGA paid them for the sake of being there.

I think you can play as any character in the SSE anyway.

 

[RedrappeR]

I can see your point. But games are so subjective that your free to disagree. Sometimes people don't like good games. Or really enjoy bad games for some reason. When this happens to a reviewer they tend to get a lot of hatemail. Reviewers of big sites have pressure from fans to rate things higher than maybe they want to. Even if the game was good, perhaps they just didn't like it personally.


As for Fox News. No I don't watch or support it. But I don't think its any worse than the rest of the news channels. Most are pretty terrible and will give up intergrity to bring in viewership.

BTW, you mentioned you write scripts. I happen to do screenwriting and playwriting as well, good to see other people who share that passion.

Believe it or not, your first paragraph is actually why I used to prefer Gamespot(hear me out.)

They were HARSH, on EVERYTHING. They weren't always fair, and like the majority I disagreed with the twilight princess review. But maybe besides for HALO, most games they reviewed were not given caveats or free rides. When the Kane and Lynch thing broke, I stopped caring about them. Really, it's hard to find subjective reviews these days. I've been browsing 1up, but even there, it takes some getting used to.

Whatever... I'm just sick of them at this point.

But yes, I do write plays and scripts and such. I have two one acts going up in may actually.

Spoiler

No, Sonic doesn't need more screen time. Infact he shouldn't be in the SSE at all, it is pretty obvious that he was not intended to be in and SEGA paid them for the sake of being there.

Spoiler

Or, it could be, you know, that he's the most requested third party character, and they wanted to give him a big introduction. Just a thought.

You don't like Sonic much do you. That's fine. To each his own.

 

[Tomanator33]

Spoiler

No, Sonic doesn't need more screen time. Infact he shouldn't be in the SSE at all, it is pretty obvious that he was not intended to be in and SEGA paid them for the sake of being there.

I think you can play as any character in the SSE anyway.

I don't think Sega paid Nintendo to add him in, and they could have worked him in better just like they did with snake. But with the role he has now he was better to be left out. He was intended to be in the game it was almost for sure after how many people said he should be another 3rd party franchise.

 

[Blaze the cat]

I finally realize why the past smash games have gotten worse reviews than they disserve... the reviewers don't fully understand the game.

I'm really tired of hearing people say, "If you don't like the game, you don't understand it." There is such a thing as a difference of opinion.

By the way, it's spelled "deserve"....

 

[Eternalfire]

You know what site I get my reviews from? Gamerankings.com. Hell yeah. All the reviews averaged together is the only way to go.

 

[Chaosblade77]

You know what site I get my reviews from? Gamerankings.com. Hell yeah. All the reviews averaged together is the only way to go.

I just ask my friends if they have played it and get their opinion, or rent the thing. Then I can make my decision from there.

 

[shellblade]

my signature is dedcated to everyone who participated in that smash cast

 

[PwnyRide]

They're saying the opposite from what I'm hearing from the people who live in Japan and have played it. Then again, watching the videos and hearing what they had to say about the game, IGN has no idea what they're talking about.

Here's a summary made by Milabrega on NeoGAF so you don't have to waste your bandwidth:

You're right..IGN have NO IDEA what they're talking about. It's clear when i read down to the part where it says:

Zelda: same. <-- LOL WUT? DIE IN A FIRE IGN.

 

[silver777]

Spoiler

Or, it could be, you know, that he's the most requested third party character, and they wanted to give him a big introduction. Just a thought.

You don't like Sonic much do you. That's fine. To each his own.

Spoiler

What kind of introduction was that?? where was he all this time just to appear in ONE cutsence at the very end on the game??? that was pretty stupid seriously.

I don't think Sega paid Nintendo to add him in, and they could have worked him in better just like they did with snake. But with the role he has now he was better to be left out. He was intended to be in the game it was almost for sure after how many people said he should be another 3rd party franchise.

See, thats why Snake kicksass, he is an awesome character from a very sucsessful series, he brings with him a new military based attacks, new type of music and a cool designed stage, and the best part is his conversations with Otacon, Mel and the Colonel on EVERY character in the game(they even have transmitions(sp?) with the StarFox pilots!! how cool is that?!).

he rocks.

what did sonic bring?? nothing exciting AT ALL.

 

[RedrappeR]

Spoiler

What kind of introduction was that?? where was he all this time just to appear in ONE cutsence at the very end on the game??? that was pretty stupid seriously.

Spoiler

It's called being awesome. Haven't you ever heard the phrase "Heroes always arrive late". And you're not a Sonic fan so of course you wouldn't understand.

I mean come on, if they did it with Snake it would've been just as awesome. You don't like Sonic, just admit it dude... don't just bash the character. I mean, I HATE ****ing Jigglypuff, I don't like game and watch, but I'll give him credit where it's due.

 

[ThoraxeRMG]

I always hated IGN.

 

[Luke Groundwalker]

Spoiler

It's called being awesome. Haven't you ever heard the phrase "Heroes always arrive late". And you're not a Sonic fan so of course you wouldn't understand.

I mean come on, if they did it with Snake it would've been just as awesome. You don't like Sonic, just admit it dude... don't just bash the character. I mean, I HATE ****ing Jigglypuff, I don't like game and watch, but I'll give him credit where it's due.

It's not a reference to Sonic, it's a reference to Kamen Rider and other tokusatsu superheroes.

 

[RedrappeR]

It's not a reference to Sonic, it's a reference to Kamen Rider and other tokusatsu superheroes.

Oh, I know that. I just said it was a phrase that's been thrown around a lot. But well done on picking up the reference

 

[turboether]

well you know what they say. you cant spell ignorant without IGN

 

[Levia7han117]

----------

 

[DarkSpidey13]

wow. for a group of self-proclaimed "hardcore" smash players, they seriously sound like they know next to NOTHING about the game. they seriously sounded so ignorant about most aspects of the game that i had to stop listening less than halfway through. so much for IGN's credibility...

 

[Fimbulvetr]

Sonic's appearance will make a hell of an impact for someone who hasn't been following the Dojo, SWF or whatever for the last few months. There's apparantly no indication of his existence in the game until that scene. This is what happens when you spoil the game for yourself. You have to live with your choice, dammit.

And yes, they know nothing about the subtleties of Smash. I've always known Matt spammed Thunder - it's pretty well known there - and that is the reason they had that "Stale Moves" bonus in Melee. Plus, if they still think the clones are the same, and the old characters are the same, and worse yet that Ike is the same as Roy, then obviously you don't want to listen to them about details like that.

However, as a review site I find them relatively un-biased. They have a large amount of coverage, including many lesser known games that other sites tend to give the flick. Personally I prefer Gamespy, but whatever. Each to his own.

 

[RedrappeR]

Sonic's appearance will make a hell of an impact for someone who hasn't been following the Dojo, SWF or whatever for the last few months. There's apparantly no indication of his existence in the game until that scene. This is what happens when you spoil the game for yourself. You have to live with your choice, dammit.

And yes, they know nothing about the subtleties of Smash. I've always known Matt spammed Thunder - it's pretty well known there - and that is the reason they had that "Stale Moves" bonus in Melee. Plus, if they still think the clones are the same, and the old characters are the same, and worse yet that Ike is the same as Roy, then obviously you don't want to listen to them about details like that.

However, as a review site I find them relatively un-biased. They have a large amount of coverage, including many lesser known games that other sites tend to give the flick. Personally I prefer Gamespy, but whatever. Each to his own.

Hate to nitpick but... Sonic is on the back of the box