Variety: Mirror’s Edge ‘gimmicky’ and Gears is ‘so 1.5’

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Variety may not be the first thing you think of when it comes to hard-hitting videogame critique, but E3 judging panelist Ben Fritz isn’t pulling his punches. The Variety writer states that of E3’s twelve award winners, he voted for only Spore and Pure. He then aimed some harsh words at two of the biggest games of the show.

“I wasn’t offended by most of the choices either,” explained Fritz. Fallout 3, LittleBigPlanet, Dead Space and Left4Dead are all really good games with the potential, based on the limited time I got to see them, to be fantastic.

“The only winner I really disagreed with was Mirror’s Edge for best original game. To me it seemed more gimmicky (A hot chick in the future who does parkour!) than substantive to me, the first person perspective really didn’t work for a game where you’re trying to manipulate a character through complex spatial puzzles, and the challenge often felt more about timing (can you jump off this ledge with enough speed at the very last second?) than brains.”

The writer continued his brutal honesty by stating that Gears of War 2 is “so Gears of War 1.5.” He was dumbfounded that a game with only “minor” improvements could stun so many judges while Resistance 2, “a much more dramatic leap forward,” was passed over. Finally, Fritz concludes that the biggest injustice of all was Fable 2 failing to win anything, as he claims that the sequel “looks like it really will deliver on developer Peter Molyneux’s promises.”

Man, don’t ever get on the wrong side of Variety. Sounds like they’ll cut you to shreds.


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