German PC Magazine "Gamestar" reviews Elemental

danke schoen.

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They reviewed 1.07.

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Quoting buchecker,

They reviewed 1.07.

Any self respecting review would update a game before reviewing it. It's only fair. If authors, artists, actors etc etc all get to fix their work and have people judge the final product, why not games??

Nice to see a reviewer that "gets it".

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I have not much time, but here is their conclusion:

Martin Deppe wrote: "Real love-hate. Rarely I wanted to fling my arms around the developers neck and simultaneously wanted to choke them. Elemental does some things insanely well: This consistent graphic design which looks all of a piece, the great unit designer, the combination of city building, exploring and fighting. And then there are things which drive me crazy. Such as the messy unit selection or these very sloooooow combat animations which I can't speed up. Finally the love prevails over the the hatred - Elemental is an insider tip which you should give a chance to get into it."

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Quoting Tobear,

reply 4

I have not much time, but here is their conclusion:

Martin Deppe wrote: "Real love-hate. Rarely I wanted to fling my arms around the developers neck and simultaneously wanted to choke them. Elemental does some things insanely well: This consistent graphic design which looks all of a piece, the great unit designer, the combination of city building, exploring and fighting. And then there are things which drive me crazy. Such as the messy unit selection or these very sloooooow combat animations which I can't speed up. Finally the love prevails over the the hatred - Elemental is a insider tip which you should give a chance to get into it."

Readng that makes me feel a bit creepe out, but I think it is a language issue:P

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No mention whatsoever of anything like "bug" or "broken features" - besides the obvious lack of multiplayer.
And that combat animations are sloooooow and can not be sped up.
They reviewed 1.07 but it really sounds like they were testing the 1.35 version...

Effectively an unconditional recommendation.

The comments - including those by Elemental fans - sing a different song.
Potential, by all means yes, but not quite there, yet.

80% scores for both AI and game balance are well... I dunno... what was that polite word for bullshit again? =P
Whatever. I just want some of what that reviewer was smoking.

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Why did you post this embarrassing piece of game journalism? I like GameStar, but their review of Elemental is despicable and ignorant of a lot of issues the game has at the moment. There are even some claims in the final verdict that are downright false.

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Readng that makes me feel a bit creepe out, but I think it is a language issue:P

hehe...and now. More of it.

I´m really happy, that there will be a demo version. Elemental needs no re-review. Anyone who likes to play TBS can test it and i´m really sure, most of them will love it. (1.1) I hope there will be a fanbase in germany.

(sry, about my english. this is the first forum i try write in english. If it is not understandable, so say it. )

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Quoting Rune_74,

reply 5

Quoting Tobear, reply 4I have not much time, but here is their conclusion:

Martin Deppe wrote: "Real love-hate. Rarely I wanted to fling my arms around the developers neck and simultaneously wanted to choke them. Elemental does some things insanely well: This consistent graphic design which looks all of a piece, the great unit designer, the combination of city building, exploring and fighting. And then there are things which drive me crazy. Such as the messy unit selection or these very sloooooow combat animations which I can't speed up. Finally the love prevails over the the hatred - Elemental is a insider tip which you should give a chance to get into it."

Readng that makes me feel a bit creepe out, but I think it is a language issue:P

Nope it is the 1.07 Version status 09.03.2010 aside of taht in teh fazit the review person explains that he is not sure if he should love or hate the game and part of he wants to hugs stardock and wants at the same time to strangle them and tehre are as well some Complains about tactical combat. Oh and not all people actually have the lag issue. Aside of that is a review always a personal thing like the other ones that had the lag problems. Not to mention that a review is always a bit influenced from the things that someone likes or not likes. So I think the review is totally all right.

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Quoting phazonfreak,

reply 7

Why did you post this embarrassing piece of game journalism? I like GameStar, but their review of Elemental is despicable and ignorant of a lot of issues the game has at the moment. There are even some claims in the final verdict that are downright false.

Total 10000000% agree with this guy.

The last page really has some serious flaws/mistakes/failures.

Sorry, but i think the reviewer of Gamestar didn't play the game for very long.

Also, german reviews are really really bad (it's always 70% blah blah and only 30% about the game). They add too much unintersting fluff to their reviews, it's just annoying to read. And btw. i'm german....

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Istari

Join Date 05/2001

+20

Quoting Robert Hentschke,

reply 6

No mention whatsoever of anything like "bug" or "broken features" - besides the obvious lack of multiplayer.
And that combat animations are sloooooow and can not be sped up.
They reviewed 1.07 but it really sounds like they were testing the 1.35 version...

Effectively an unconditional recommendation.

The comments - including those by Elemental fans - sing a different song.
Potential, by all means yes, but not quite there, yet.

80% scores for both AI and game balance are well... I dunno... what was that polite word for bullshit again? =P
Whatever. I just want some of what that reviewer was smoking.

Enough. If you want to rage on Elemental, find another forum. We're done with it here.

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Quoting Istari,

reply 11

Quoting Robert Hentschke,
reply 6
No mention whatsoever of anything like "bug" or "broken features" - besides the obvious lack of multiplayer.
And that combat animations are sloooooow and can not be sped up.
They reviewed 1.07 but it really sounds like they were testing the 1.35 version...

Effectively an unconditional recommendation.

The comments - including those by Elemental fans - sing a different song.
Potential, by all means yes, but not quite there, yet.

80% scores for both AI and game balance are well... I dunno... what was that polite word for bullshit again? =P
Whatever. I just want some of what that reviewer was smoking.

Enough. If you want to rage on Elemental, find another forum. We're done with it here.

Actually he is rageing more about the reviewer than about Elemental. He is right with the fact that the reviewer was indeed smoking something funny.

And btw. i love Elemental and support it with nifty $$$ as much as i can. But the review of Gamestar really is just wrong.

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Quoting Selphares,

reply 9

Nope it is the 1.07 Version status 09.03.2010 aside of taht in teh fazit the review person explains that he is not sure if he should love or hate the game and part of he wants to hugs stardock and wants at the same time to strangle them and tehre are as well some Complains about tactical combat. Oh and not all people actually have the lag issue. Aside of that is a review always a personal thing like the other ones that had the lag problems. Not to mention that a review is always a bit influenced from the things that someone likes or not likes. So I think the review is totally all right.

So concealing critical information about serious issues and handing out an unconditional recommendation is totally all right in this case? Of course, personal opinion is always a given when reviewing games, no one can be totally objective, but only after you informed the reader about the positive AND the negative aspects of the game, which is seriously lacking here. There was one reader in the comments section who was euphoric and intended to buy the game right then just because of that review and the claim that it is the worthy successor of Master of Magic, and only after he read about the negative parts in the other comments he decided to wait a little bit.

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Very happy about this review. Hope it brings some more german elemental players.

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Their review is indeed a little bit strange: pros: + very long campaign (about 20 hours) ...ehm hello?^^

But I think they have also some good points in it. And they reviewed the game in its current state (no outdated pre-release version).

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Very happy about this review. Hope it brings some more german elemental players.

The demo is a better way to get fans in germany. Often reviews raise false expectations. The demo and word of mouth advertising (<- I do my very best ) and i´m sure elemental gets the credit that its deserve.

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Just to make a point, here are the "best" and most hilarious bits of information in the final verdict:

Balance:

- no unfair fights

Content:

- very long campaign (appox. 20 hours)

AI:

- AI doesn't cheat

Campaign:

- a lot of options

- good introduction to game mechanics

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So...its a typical german review. Isn´t it? Gothic 3 was also good example for an incorrect review. Buying the game after reading such reviews make players angry. Thats something that elemental doesnt deserve. Once again...i´m happy about the demo, so i can say to my friends "Test it and you will see. I´m right."

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Enough. If you want to rage on Elemental, find another forum. We're done with it here.

Me? I'm not raging at all.
I summed up the review for those who do not speak german. What's in it and what is not.

The reviewer might not have encountered any hardware issues at all. My own system is pretty "Elemental compatible", too, so I know it's possible.
And let's face it - the campaign scenario is pretty well balanced - meaning the player is assured of winning it.
(the screenshots appear to be all from the campaign)
So depending on what the reviewer played and for how long, the score might be completely justified.

So many ifs. We'll never know.

I don't mind Elemental getting good review scores. It could use some of those...

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Quoting Lantros,

reply 16

The demo and word of mouth advertising (<- I do my very best ) and i´m sure elemental gets the credit that its deserve.

I will do the very same.

Of course it is not the task of a reviewer to include the potential of a game in his work.

But in this special case he could (should) do so.

On the one hand we have a "platform" that delivers all the possibilities to create a famous game, on the other hand we have Stardock, a company that already showed its capability to really improve a 1.0 version.

The review may be awkward in some points but the final judgement will be true after a while.

In my german "home" forum I strongly recommend to buy the game after a few months.

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Quoting Lantros,

reply 18

So...its a typical german review. Isn´t it? Gothic 3 was also good example for an incorrect review. Buying the game after reading such reviews make players angry. Thats something that elemental doesnt deserve. Once again...i´m happy about the demo, so i can say to my friends "Test it and you will see. I´m right."

Don't know what you and Himmelweiss mean with typical or that german reviews are bad in general. You can always find both good and bad examples of (game) journalism in every country and language. There are very good reviewers in Germany and also very bad ones in the States.

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Maybe i read the wrong reviews. But ok. You are right. Gerneralising (?) is mostly nonsense. But i play pc games and read reviews for over 20 years and the Quality is falling over the years. So my posts were build on my experiences.

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Quoting phazonfreak,

reply 7

Why did you post this embarrassing piece of game journalism? I like GameStar, but their review of Elemental is despicable and ignorant of a lot of issues the game has at the moment. There are even some claims in the final verdict that are downright false.

Phazon I read a lot of strategy game reviews by Martin Deppe and I know that he's a strategy fan by heart. I think that most of you are right, that some of the points of his review are disproportionate but I like to see it this way - higher ratings will encourage both the devs to tweak those issues and some strategy fans to buy the game. At least with all the support from Stardock they won't be disappointed by Elemental on the long run.

It is by no means embarrassing. Just a bit misty-eyed eventually On the other hand it's quite obvious that he didn't grant himself to much time to play the game... otherwise he would have been much more critic about some issues

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Quoting phazonfreak,

reply 21

Quoting Lantros,
reply 18
So...its a typical german review. Isn´t it? Gothic 3 was also good example for an incorrect review. Buying the game after reading such reviews make players angry. Thats something that elemental doesnt deserve. Once again...i´m happy about the demo, so i can say to my friends "Test it and you will see. I´m right."

Don't know what you and Himmelweiss mean with typical or that german reviews are bad in general. You can always find both good and bad examples of (game) journalism in every country and language. There are very good reviewers in Germany and also very bad ones in the States.

It is mainly because english sounds by far better than german. And really, almost every german reviewer adds some personal useless fluff i just do not want to read in a review! Or some try to turn the review into some RPG soloadventure read or storyboard... I just don't get it...

I favor any US/english review over any german review, anytime!

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Quoting phazonfreak,

reply 7

Why did you post this embarrassing piece of game journalism? I like GameStar, but their review of Elemental is despicable and ignorant of a lot of issues the game has at the moment. There are even some claims in the final verdict that are downright false.

You need to learn that reviews are opinions, and accept them as such. Not everything bugs people in the same way. Just because you do not agree with an opinion does not make it crap.

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