Kevin, you say there's no four-player co-op in Classic mode. Is there still local four-player competitive multiplayer at least? That was the bread and butter of Geometry Wars 2 for me.
@Vodoo Whether the story should factor into the rating depends on the sort of game it is. If I recall, Gamespot gave one of the Tony Hawk games a 10 back in the day. I think this is another case where the story's quality really doesn't matter—and the review doesn't say the story's bad; it says that the story being nonsense fits with the absurdity that is the rest of the game.
@Kevin-V @brunorr It's a great idea, but I think you need to make it more obvious when a game is being reviewed for the second time or has multiple reviews—like a little icon near the head of the review or something.
Controller prices have increased hugely in the past decade. I vaguely recall getting a Dualshock 2 for $19.99 years ago, but I can't be certain. (Can anyone tell me for certain PS2/Xbox/Gamecube controllers cost back in the day?) In the 360/PS3 generation, Xbox controllers were $30-$40 ($60 for a play-and-charge kit) and PS3 controllers $40-$50. Now it looks like you'll have to pay $60 minimum for a new next-gen controller. I like to play 4-player co-op/splitscreen games with my friends, and while I don't plan to get a new console for a while, this is a shame.
@lozengez I think Gamespot likes to review truly awful games. They seem to have fun tearing them apart, which explains why they would go to the expense of making video reviews and features for many of them (what they did for Street Cleaning Simulator, for instance, was hilarious.)
I agree that this review was a bit of a bummer, though—nowhere near as entertaining as what they did for Big Rigs.
Zetona's comments