At the time of this writing, there's not a single review for Tony Hawk Ride to be found anywhere. That's because...
At the time of this writing, there's not a single review for Tony Hawk Ride to be found anywhere. That's because, to the best of our knowledge, Activision didn't send finished copies of the game to anyone prior to release. We haven't received a copy in this morning's mail either, so it looks like we'll be making a trip to a local video games emporium this afternoon so that we can start work on a review.
In fairness, Activision did organize a "review event" for the game last weekend, but it's our policy not to review games in controlled conditions, so just as we have for a number of big game review events in recent memory (Grand Theft Auto IV, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, and Halo 3: ODST spring to mind), we politely declined to attend. I imagine a lot of other reviewers declined on this occasion as well because while most review events appear to involve overnight stays in hotels and afford ample time to both play the games in optimal conditions and mingle with representatives of the company that's paying for your accommodation, this particular event was nothing of the sort.
The Tony Hawk: Ride review event was originally pitched simply as a "Family Fun Event" and then later, when the full invitation arrived, as a "Family Fun/Review Event." Apparently, we were expected to review the game based on just three hours of "activities, music, and gaming" in the company of Tony Hawk and, if we wished to bring them along, our families. Yeah, not gonna happen.
We'll bring you our review just as soon as we can track down copies of the game and play them the same way that we do all games we review--on our own terms.
Going off-topic for a second, you might have noticed that our video reviews for both Modern Warfare 2 and Assassin's Creed II have spoiler warnings at the start. Going forward, we'll be including this at the start of all our video reviews because, depending on how sensitive you are to spoilers and how much you know about the game already, we figure that every video review we do could potentially spoil something for you. We always try to make our video reviews as free of spoiler as possible, and we'll continue to do so.
Justin's youth was largely misspent playing Commodore 64 and Amiga games. He left the UK's Official PlayStation Magazine to join GameSpot in 2000, believes that he's one of the best Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe players in the world, and puts HP Sauce on everything.
good on gamespot for putting this out there, so that people dont go buy the game based on the hype.and i didnt notice the spoiler warnings but i have seen an increase in the number of complaints in the forums about spoilers even if the content in question is right at the beginning of the game
This is why I put more stock into Gamespot reviews than any other major website. Because you guys play all aspects of a game from the consumer's perspective and not from a reviewer's perspective like IGN and 1-UP seem to do. Those sites routinely have reviews for high profile games with major multiplayer components up weeks ahead of release date in some instances (Killzone 2 for example). There is no way those reviewers have experienced the same conditions we REGULAR PEOPLE will face when the game ships. Those reviews are conducted solely in conditions selectively crafted by the publishers and don't in any way represent how the final product may perform online. Anyways, I just want to tip my hat to the Gamespot editors and reviewers for holding on to their credibilty in an industry that is increasingly becoming more and more suspect in the way it acts.
@SLRMC93 We buy games for review quite frequently, actually, it's just unusual for a publisher to so blatantly deny reviewers reasonable access to a big game ahead of its release. The only reason I can think of for Activision to do this is that they don't want any negative reviews getting out before you REGULAR PEOPLE have gone out and spent $120 on their game. That's why I felt it was worth blogging, not because having to go out and buy a game upsets me in some way.
lol 3 hours to try and make a decent review of a game xD That's a joke. If you ask me i believe this is going to be an epic fail, and they probably know it so they don't want anyone ANYONE to ruin the hype..
@dualmask Rune Factory Frontier averaged an 8 on every other gaming site on the planet... GS never reviewed it... I wonder why.
Oh boo hoo you gotta buy a game like us REGULAR PEOPLE so what buy the game and review it already!!!!
I can think of a few games that were never reviewed here, like DJ Max Fever and Phantasy Star Portable (which are both excellent by the way). I wonder why. Compliation titles have been reviewed in the past. Metroid Prime Trilogy deserves a review, if only for the fact that the developers went through the trouble to apply Corruption's controls to all three games.
metroid prime trilogy will likely never get a review, just because its a bunch of old games, not a whole lot is changed. Rune Factory: Frontier on the other hand is not a remake or anything and it still doesnt have a review.
Ronin893 Posted Nov 17, 2009 9:07 pm GMT I guess I never thought of why some of your reviews are sometimes late. A great site like Gamespot should of had the game at least a week in advance and not have to purchase it at a retail. That is hilarious.
well where is metroid prime trilogy review? yeah, there is your anwsere. gamespot and their excuses
I guess I never thought of why some of your reviews are sometimes late. A great site like Gamespot should of had the game at least a week in advance and not have to purchase it at a retail. That is hilarious.
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