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[Mama Robotnik]

(*Okay, six years and one day)

On 17th November 2006, then-Gamespot reviewer Jeff Gerstmann published his review of Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. He made a number of observations about the game being a quality product, but questioned the implementation of motion controls and highlighted a perceived lack of innovation.

Twilight Princess is a lengthy adventure packed with many well-designed puzzles and some interesting characters. But once you get over the rush of excitement from a big, new Zelda game having finally arrived, it's hard not to feel a tinge of disappointment--there's a very noticeable lack of evolution here, which makes aspects of the game seem more dated than classic.

It's good that Twilight Princess' world and puzzle design can carry it, because the combat and boss fights aren't very deep at all. Most enemies just require you to swing your sword at them, which is done by shaking the Wii Remote or shaking the Nunchuk for a spin attack. You can lock onto enemies with the Z trigger and strafe around them, hop back and forth, leap in for a jumping attack, or jump back and out of the way--the same basic moves as past installments. But normally you can just keep on shaking the Wii Remote like a maniac and come out on top against most enemies. There's no finesse to the way the Wii Remote is used, and at times you'll wish that you could just hit a button to swing the sword instead of dealing with all the motion-sensing nonsense.

Objectively speaking, it's still a little disappointing that the series hasn't evolved much at all with this latest installment. You'll almost certainly enjoy the game for its terrific puzzles, colorful characters, and compelling story, but at some point the feeling of nostalgia crosses the line and holds this game back from being as unbelievably good as some of its predecessors. So as impressive of a game as it is, Twilight Princess seems like it could have been so much more with a few presentational updates and more effective and interesting uses of the Wii's unique control scheme. But even without those things, Twilight Princess is a great game that stays extremely true to the Zelda franchise's past. That's excellent news for fans of the series, who'll find in Twilight Princess a true-blue Zelda game with updated visuals, some new twists, plenty of challenging puzzles, and a faithful dedication to the series' roots.

The game was "Great", and though the reviewers opinion was that it had some minor flaws, it was judged as a strong product.


Then this happened. Everywhere. From people who had never played the game.


GameFAQs

Vandalised Wikipedia

A few random grabs from forums

(There's loads more out there - just Google it)


Miscelleneous Links

NeoGAF's own thread for the review, from the archive. Unfortunate in places.

The TVTrope article that documents other instances of the "8.8" phenomenon


Six years later

So, wow. There hasn't been a review backlash like it since.

A few questions:

1. What the Hell was that all about? Zelda games have come and gone since, so have heavily anticipated games and launch titles, but nothing has exploded quite with the same rage and venom. Can this ever happen again?

2. In retrospect, I generally agree with Jeff's review. The backlash looks all the more absurd. Anyone else feel like this?

 

[Gravijah]

jeff gerstmann and giant bomb are horrible.

 

[grimshawish]

Then you made a thread about a review from 6 years ago.

EDIT: TP has issues but its actually a brilliant game and I think builds on previous ideas. Plus the relationships are top notch.
Its a great Zelda game, and a really good adventure.

 

[cj_iwakura]

Zelda fans terrify me. God, if only Persona fans were that devout. Where was this backlash when Innocent Sin got ravaged by reviewers?

 

[Takao]

Anniversary threads for everything.

Better get my Medabots thread up soon.

 

[Izick]

jeff gerstmann and giant bomb are horrible.

Gamefaqs is thatta way.

 

[Bossniak]

 

[Gravijah]

Zelda fans terrify me. God, if only Persona fans were that devout.

the Church of Satonaka is quite devout.

 

[lazybones18]

If only the game was actually great, instead of decent

 

[JeffGrubb]

Good to know things never change.

 

[StuBurns]

I think the score is too high for the Wii version personally.

 

[UnluckyKate]

I look back at this and I feel weird because so much drama and I felt the same, being 13, arguing about review score.

Then I grew up

 

[grimshawish]

So guys how much has your lives changed since this review?

And 2018 we get a thread about the thread that was made today.

See you then man. Should be fun.

Gamefaqs is thatta way.

Opinions are thisaway

 

[Josh7289]

Gamers.

 

[atomico]

8.8 ain't so bad. I always thought it was 8.5

 

[DarknessTear]

Wii version was terrible. Gamecube version was not.

 

[cj_iwakura]

the Church of Satonaka is quite devout.

I mean Persona, not Persona 4.

 

[hamchan]

Don't know why you cut off the usernames in those GAF posts. Should let their shame be shown to all.

 

[TheGreatDivide]

FUCK YES ANOTHER WALL OF SHAME YOU RULE

 

[Gravijah]

I mean Persona, not Persona 4.

yeah but chie chie chie chieeeeeee eeeee eeechhh90000222

 

[Levyne]

I never actually played the Wii version of TP. Never really wanted to.

 

[Corky]

Wii version was terrible. Gamecube version was not.

Differences?

 

[Nightstick11]

Not that I was into review scores before TP, but this score really highlighted the absurdity of review scores in general.

In hindsight, the reasons for docking Twilight Princess for trivial, frivolous matters were beyond silly; the game is, and was, amazing in nearly all respects. In a world where derivative trash like Gears of War and CoD routinely get perfect scores, the backlash to the review wasn't all that hard to see or understand.

On the other hand, games journalism lol.

 

[farnham]

still think it was a shitty review

especially the part where jeff criticized zelda tp for the bad sound quality of the wiimote...


but hey its his opinion.

Differences?

GC
- link is left handed
- camera control

wii

- aiming control with pointer


i think the wii version is better overall

Not that I was into review scores before TP, but this score really highlighted the absurdity of review scores in general.

In hindsight, the reasons for docking Twilight Princess for trivial, frivolous matters were beyond silly; the game is, and was, amazing in nearly all respects. In a world where derivative trash like Gears of War and CoD routinely get perfect scores, the backlash to the review wasn't all that hard to see or understand.

On the other hand, games journalism lol.

gears 1 actually i can understand

it was an amazing game at that time and still is

but 2 and 3 are just 1 rehashed over and over again

 

[Anth0ny]

8.8 was generous

 

[disappeared]

So we're just picking random years for anniversary threads now? Or does this have to do with Wii-U's launch?

 

[Jintor]

jeff gerstmann and giant bomb are horrible.

I've seen some pretty bad first posts, but this takes the fucking cake.

 

[LiK]

Let's also bring Uncharted 3 into the fold. That was a good time.

 

[Izick]

Opinions are thisaway

Saying something is horrible with no reason behind it (other than they don't like your favoritist game ever!) isn't really an opinion in my eyes, it's a defense mechanism.

 

[ViewtifulJC]

8.8 seems more fitting for MM than TP

 

[MrChocolate]

The score should have been way lower. I actually think that GS was biased on that review.

8.8 seems more fitting for MM than TP

WHAT DID YOU SAY?

 

[Levyne]

8.8 seems more fitting for MM than TP

Only on a 9 point scale.

 

[Glorified G]

The funniest thing about the score is that in hindsight, he ended up scoring more than he should have.

 

[?oe?oe]

Wii version was terrible. Gamecube version was not.

I love the extreme contrast. Can you increase your vocabulary perhaps?

 

[ohlawd]

... I liked the Wii version better.

Oh no I think I have to go to the clinic.

 

[Levito]

Oh god that review caused one of the biggest shitstorm's I've ever seen....

Zelda fans were mad.

 

[King of the Potato People]

I don't completely agree with that review, I really like the music and even though the Wii remote controls are rather simple, it felt quite satisfying using some of the weapons.

Of course the backlash was insane. I'm not sure what else can be said there.

 

[hydrophilic attack]

"8.8 has killed my brain through anger."

Clearly

 

[Nightstick11]

Oh god that review caused one of the biggest shitstorm's I've ever seen....

Zelda fans were mad.

Zelda fans were also right.

 

[Syphon Filter]

that was a fair score.

 

[Anth0ny]

Only on an 8.8 point scale.

fixed

 

[Dresden]

Guess we can expect a retrospective of UC3 8/10 in six years.

 

[WrenchNinja]

IIRC he still continued to get death threats for that review a couple of years later.

 

[FStop7]

I remember how much Internet angst there was over that review and I also remember some of those same people were actually gleeful when Gerstmann was fired over Kane and Lynch. I never realized how seriously people took their video games until then.

 

[AuthenticM]

The game isn't even worth an 8.8. At max it's an 8.1.

 

[Gouty]

For my money TP was the moment when Zelda went from peerless to just another franchise, albeit it a good one. I think Jeff's review was spot on and the Nintendites couldn't handle it.

 

[TheGreatDivide]

TP is the Zelda game ever.

 

[Levito]

Zelda fans were also right.

What were they right about?

 

[sphagnum]

He was right.

 

[Tookay]

... And got it completely wrong.

One of my favorites. I have a playthrough nearly every year. There aren't many games I can say that about.

In spite of its slow beginning and ill-conceived bits, it remains one of the purest dungeon-romps in the series and it's fun to speed-run through.