Jaffe reviews the reviews of Calling All Cars

Jaffe is an ass. Every time he opens his mouth he just reconfirms my opinion. He is a beautiful example of why most of the people who make games should neither be seen nor heard.

Ha! Shut the hell up Jaffe, you just got owned. Your game is nothing special, so quit pretending the reviews are "wrong."

I can only hope that these other people (Dennis Dyack)who act like their product is going to be the second coming and think they can do no wrong wind up in the same predicament.

The game flopped! LOLL

Fanboyism aside, I should read the gamespot review before speculating, but if GS rated an arcade $10 downloadable game relative to a real $50 game, it is unfair and Jaffe would have a point.

A great game doesn't need the fucking guy who made it offering up reasons and excuses - it'll get a good score right out of the gate. You don't see Gears of War or, indeed, God of War needing that nonsense. Jaffe clearly fumbled, but what's truly embarassing is not that the game is average, but that he is so defensive and insecure about it that he felt the need to write that. Weak.

Why do all game blogs insist on telling us what David Jaffe has to say? Does anyone out there care what this immature man thinks? I sure as hell don't.

P.S.

Bomberman 360, anyone?

"Fanboyism aside, I should read the gamespot review before speculating, but if GS rated an arcade $10 downloadable game relative to a real $50 game, it is unfair and Jaffe would have a point."

No, he wouldn't. The Gamespot reviewer isn't dumb enough to think "people are paying 50-60 dollars for this?!" before reviewing it. It's in perspective. If you look at games just on the purely "cost to consumer" level, then the Burger King games would have been the 2006 Game(s) of the Year. Sure, they're just passable at best, but OMG THEY'RE THREE DOLLARZZZZ!!11

"Calling All Cars! has the makings of a fun and exciting multiplayer game, but it feels more like a demo than a full game. With at least double the number of maps, weapons, and cars, this would be worth checking out. As it is now, there's just not enough content to justify spending $10 on this game. "- Gamespot

Even for 10 bucks this game isn't worth it, there's no mistake in the review, Jaffe should just admit defeat.

"We set out to make a balls to the wall, trash talking, fun ass multiplayer/party game."

That's good and all, but when I realize that now or sometime soon in the future that $10 could net me Mario Kart 64 or Super Smash Bros. 64, respectively. And when Smashmania runs wild all over VC, ho boy...

But then Gamespot could be friggin' stupid like they were with Twilight Princess and I should just concede to Jaffe that Gamespot's full of hardasses.

Say I think Dennis Dyack would love them.

Jaffe is a jackass but I don't trust Gamespot reviews anyways. They usually suck ass and glorify ho-hum repeats like GTA and Madden while striking down new, original, _good_ games.

You know, I love when people take the traditional "He's a jackass and he FAILED" approach and yet will bitch the moment Zelda gets anything below a 9.5.

Look, the point the blog was making was that the bashes against his game in the review were pretty much the bashes against the very nature of the game. I mean, I was reading the Gamespot review (because this news is like 3 days old. This blog went up saturday) and even I agree the overall score seems a tad harsh. It's actually as if the review score was punishing Calling All Cars for BEING a casual game. And the reviews text tends be be all smiles and giggles and saying how great the game is just to dole out a shitty score at the end.

I think if he is saying it got a bad score for being the type of game it is, he should check their review for Geometry Wars on the 360. GW is a casual game and there really wasn't much to it. Gamespot would have given it a better score if it deserved it, but I guess it doesn't since even IGN (I think) and others have given it less then a 7.

jaffe should just go get drunk and abuse another Sony PR person. That's the only time anything he says is remotely interesting.

I think Jaffe is annoying but equally annoying is people posting without reading the "article", which in this case, a blog posting.

"Bomberman 360, anyone?"

"The game flopped! LOLL"

One major game website posted reviewed it as a mediocore game. While, IGN and 1up gave it an equivalent of a B letter grade. IGN and 1Up gave Bomberman 360 a decent score?

I think the success of God of War has gotten to his head. Not every game he makes is going to be a hit and he has to realize this. It seems, however, that the more I read his press releases, the more immature he seems.

I think the problem with a lot of the cheap games we'll be seeing as downloads on all systems is that they get reviewed for the system they are on... this title would probably receive a warmer reception on the Wii, simply because it's the sort of thing expected from the console. Not trying to make the Wii sound bad, just calling it how I see it. We want huge titles with great graphics on the ps3, and this obviously isn't that. It wasn't meant to be. I agree that this title is probably receiving more attention than it deserves because of who is behind it, but who cares? All that matters is, is it fun for what it is? Will I get $10 worth of entertainment from it?
Of the handful of reviews for this game so far, most fall on the favorable side of things, so it's hardly a flop. Hell, 7/10 isn't a bad score. Not great, but... average. If the low end scores for you title is average, it's not the end of the world. Even Jaffe seems to realize that in a few parts of his rant.

Hey Sheppy, Gamespot had some shady coverage of their TP review and then botched it when responding to the dissenting opinion (you know, they didn't have to, but then they did anyways by crapping on the fans and the company that made it). "Keeping it real" to the point of disconnecting with readers. Then they remove THAT article.

In the review of the GC version, despite the GC version getting a higher score, they concluded that the Wii version was better.

GameSpot's always had the record for the most stringent review scores between themselves, IGN, 1up, GI, GameSpy, all those other sites. They're full of hardasses. So if Jaffe's game is a couple points lower on GS than it is on other sites, it should be considered pretty normal for GS.

I don't think he needed to defend against a bad review. I was kind of shocked to find out it was only 4 levels. It does seem rather skimpy. And, as I understand it, the "single player" can be completed in under half an hour. I know it's not designed to be played by itself, but I do think it should've had a bit more depth. It would've been nice to have a level editor or something, since there are so few to play, or perhaps more levels to download from PSN in the future.

That aside, I appreciate what Jaffe has done, and eagerly await the GoW3 offering, whilest I rev up GoW2.

I can just imagine the hell I'll go through once my game finally gets releaed.

"It's just a vertical shooter... 3.0"
"But it's a vertical shooter that accomidates all skill levels and even have a unique ship/power up design."
"These game types are like old.... 3.0"

Jaffe, shut the fuck up.

"But then Gamespot could be friggin' stupid like they were with Twilight Princess"

Can you morons shut the fuck up about their Zelda score? The score was fine, it's people like you who are horribly offended when a game scores oh-point-three (or whatever) less than what you think it should be that are an embarassment to the gaming community. End of story.

* All the cars handle the same.
* Weapons are useless.
* Very few levels.
* Extremely luck based.

How was this game delayed so much?

"You know, I love when people take the traditional "He's a jackass and he FAILED" approach and yet will bitch the moment Zelda gets anything below a 9.5."
- Sheppy

You know what the important fact in the comment is? Fans went ape when Zelda only got a score of 9.5 did Miyamoto hit the blogs bad mouthing people? Nope he didn't, did Reggie start crapping that the reviewers didn't understand their games? Nope he didn't, but David Jaffe upon seeing scores that he feels aren't up to his GAWD LIKE ability whipped out the box of Kleanex, and started to have himself a good little cry online.

The Gamespot review says it all from the beginning: four maps and three weapons. Now, Jaffe, I'm not game developer, but I play games, and that sounds pretty weak.

Jaffe doesn't say these things because that is who he is, he says things like that because he's living up to his reputation.

That alone makes him even more of an ass then if he truly was an ass.

@ Kizzle

If you were a Zelda fan and saw the article that Gamespot had written JUST FOR YOU as a Zelda fan you would be a lot angrier than what the review itself stands for. The article they removed was a demonstration of pretty shitty journalism to be honest.

@Zsavior

In all fairness, Miyamoto/Reggie/Nintendo Designers don't have their own blog on which they post their thoughts. This isn't like Jaffe called up Gamespot and complained or called up kotaku/joystiq. He wrote his thoughts on his own blog site.

How dare someone write things like that on their own blog! /sarcasm

I say its fair for gamespot to review the game and give whatever score they did and its fair for jaffe to give his opinion on their review and etc. In the end its only an opinion.

Its quite shocking though that the first few posters don't think the reviewer can or should be held accountable for their review by the game maker. In the end jaffe just points out he disagrees, he does not bash them over it, i think thats quite legitimate, he created somethings and hes proud of it and does not want it to unfairly criticized, seems like a good developer to me. If you give reviewers free pass and never question them they will take advantage, such as with 1up and the neverwinter score untill they called out for it, but it seems some people don't care about that and feel the reviewers opinion does not have to be questioned...

And lol at all the Jaffe haters, yeah I know, God of war 2 got better ratings than Twilight princess, maybe thats why you Nintendo fans are outraged every time this man speaks well suck it up. Just because the man's more successful at his job then you are at life, does not mean he does not have a right to an opinion.

In the end he has made two very successful franchises, and at least 4 very very good games it just shows how pathetic you Nintendo fanboys are hating on the man, even sony/xbox fans will show this type of attitude in nintendo developer posts such as miyamoto.

Be glad a developer has an opinion that he isn't afraid to share. Most of the guys bitch all the same but the only one that hears it is the wife. Im all for opening the dialogue between game players, makers, and journalists; Or at least hearing their side of things. Face it, Jaffe's tirades make you want to check the game out even more.

Heres the difference.. on the PS3 and 360 you pay $5 to $10 for minigames.. on the Wii, you guys pay FULL PRICE.. seriously, $50 for Cooking Mama, WarioWare, Raving Rabbids, etc, etc.. lol @ u.. does the 9.2 for WarioWare make it worth 5x the cost?

Did GS give GoWII better ratings than Twilight Princess? Good for Jaffe because since that review/'editorial' for TP I haven't visited Gamespot.

Alex is right. There's nothing to be upset about Jaffe writing in his own blog.

The guy's respectable.

@konny

DOnt you know.....

$50 for a minigame is the true next gen.

Konny is lame.
There is nothing wrong with Jaffe complaining about the review scores on his personal blog.
I'm sure Twilight Princess got the score it deserved in the reviewers eyes. Does it matter? I think it's a solid 9/10 game. Does that mean that if someone else thinks its a 3/10 game, all of a sudden I have to change my opinion to match theirs? Grow up.

Konny,

cooking mama- tons of recipes
Warioware- hundreds of micro games, over 10 levels, 7 great mini games
Raving Rabbids- 50 mini games

Calling all cars- 4 levels, 3 weapons.

Im not saying that any of the above may be worth 50 bucks, but there is clear content differences.

@Konny

you are damned right... it's laughable the price of some of the Wii games... imo the console itself is too expensive... but I digress.
Jaffe has the right to his opinion. Let's wait till Thursday to make your judgement on the GS review.

Listen This is BS, yes I agree he has a right to post what he likes on his blog, But this crap about Nintendo fans are mad cause GOWII got better ratings so that is why? What a Load of Horse...

This Bastard sat on a Video game online show and said, he expects better of the community, and that they should be more stringent of games, and more discriminating, in their taste. Upon Two sites Giving him the reviews he feels are favorable he then goes on to pick apart why GS the third site was wrong for their view of his Game.

Now I am no fan of gaming journalist, not in the least bit, But the guy is a hypocrite. Yeah Jaffe wants you to Judge games, Just not his games. His games get nine to tens and if not well he has to examine your journalism style. So we name Miyamoto as a developer that didn't cry and thus you Fanboys saw a way out so I diagress why don't we go through games that got lower than God Of war 2 and less than favorable ratings on Game spot which are popular. And See how their developer handled it. How much are you will to bet those guys didn't hold Cry Fest 2007 on their blog.

Seems Prince of Persia Rival swords only got a 7.1 I guess we are Ubisoft fanboys right? Cause we didn't comment on that developer....Oh yeah they didn't cry.

ELEbits very popular only 7.5 Wow Konami fanboys must be out in force? hmmm Lot of fanboys going after David Jaffe. ANybody have the link where they are crying?

Guitar hero II xbox 360 only got 8.9 RAGE ANGER RAGE!

I could do this all day people, but it doesn't change the fact that the man cries for people to mark innovation and art and enjoyment first, then complains when he doesn't get the rating he wants. It seems the above people got over their hurt of not getting a ten, why is Jaffe devoting time to call out GS on his blog for the same thing he would want them to attack on a different game.

He is a self absorbed, self impressive, Jack Ass, that thinks slinging obscenities when somebody asks him a tough question makes hims "HARDCORE". Personally I don't care what score it got, but damnit take it like a man, and don't run to your blog where you know you can fine solace and yes men ready to give you a pat on the back.

I think he's kinda right that the game looks like a good trash talking buddy game. Other than that, I have zero interest in playing this game. Being that I don't have friends with a PS3, I won't be buying this game.

Only four levels is kind of hard to swallow, even if it's "just" a $10 title. It doesn't help that the eternally silent gamers on the PlayStation network won't really help the 'trashtalking experience' that he aimed for.

Four levels is a bit on the light side. Even if it'd been six it would have been better.

"You know what the important fact in the comment is? Fans went ape when Zelda only got a score of 9.5 did Miyamoto hit the blogs bad mouthing people? Nope he didn't, did Reggie start crapping that the reviewers didn't understand their games? Nope he didn't, but David Jaffe upon seeing scores that he feels aren't up to his GAWD LIKE ability whipped out the box of Kleanex, and started to have himself a good little cry online. "

A. God-like ability? Dude, did you read the blog entry? He says the fucking game is between an 8-10. Reggie and Perrin Kaplan both said Pokemon Dash was a AAA title. He wasn't saying the game was perfect by any means and even goes as far as to say "thanks to the helpful reviews in regards to the magnet item, we've been able to tone this aspect way down, but only in the single player."

B. Nintendo developers don't have blogs. You understand the difference between a Blog and a news site, right? This is the equivelant of a livejournal post or a ranting via AIM. David Jaffe blogs. When he does, he's not representing a company or anything. He's representing himself and truthfully, he's a hell of a lot more human than majority of the other developers. Want a reference point? Itagaki. That's an unchecked ego.

C. Blogs from developers should be handled as blogs. Far too often, they are not. They usually act as an extension of a PR campaign. But when done properly, they let you into the real life of a game developer. Take, for example, the KojimaBlog. Seriously. One of his entries was about how his personal planner, given to him by his wife, was finally needing to be replaced. This was a personal planner that was with him since Snatcher so literally the entry was about how he was having a hard time finding a replacement just because of all the memories attached to the item in general.

D. Yes, yes Nintendo has gone on record with being upset with review scores in the past. Miyamoto has been upset, Reggie has been upset, Yamauchi actually wanted a magazine shut down once.

E. Read the blog entry, or the blog in general. In case you missed it, he both defends and bashes the view. He's even stated in the past that if a game isn't readily accessable as to it's exact nature within the first fifteen minutes of a game, then it's a failure. This means, by his own logic, there was a failing in the game as well. And his entry debates BOTH points.

@Geo
Hate to bash you on this. But I have Raving Rabbids and Warioware. So many of the games described as new minigames are simply variants of the same games. I mean, when they list the dancing minigames HOW many times? Not to mention the various Part 2's of many, many of their games. Not complaining, just stating.

But in my opinion, I'd rather a company balance out content instead of simply throwing it all together. And in Calling All Cars, majority of their time was spent in balancing rather than content creation. And the title is always expandable. I'd prefer a company to release a full game with 20 perfectly balanced tracks and 40 cars to a game that creates 300+ tracks and 500+ cars but none of them are balanced.

Then again, I have much lower expectations for $10. So instead of getting a game with 12 maps, all with glitches and exploits, 12 weapons that haven't been perfectly balanced, and 40 cars that pretty much look the same except for spoiler changes (ala Burnout and Ridge Racer), I like spending $10, getting an excessively balanced game, with real easy pick an play. If I didn't, imagine the hatred I would have for Microsoft. I swear I've dunked 4 $20 cards already into their marketplace and my friends and I have had much more fun in multiplayer Worms on XBLA than Gears Of War when friends are over. Personally, I think the industry needs more games like Calling All Cars and Worms.

This has nothing to do with Zelda, or the Wii...

Why bring it up? Jeeze, looks like someone's jealous that the Wii is popular, and the PS3 is not.

Grow up PS3 Fanboys, please? Stop making the PS3 look bad.

Oh and just fuel for the fire:

Mario Kart 64 is $10 on the VC. And it has more than 4 levels and 3 weapons.

The only thing wrong with this game is that it's on the PS3. If it was on the 360, it would be a larger success. The only games PS3 owners play are Madden and GTA, and also there mammas wear underwear with dick holes in 'em.

Man you guys sure love to bitch. When Jaffe mentioned that he would remove BluRay from the PS3 it is were his decision you warmed up to him, now he says something you dislike you bitch about him. While I don't necessarily agree with Jaffe, I am glad that a developer of such high regard has the guts to voice his own opinion on his own blog, and not be tied down by corporate formality.

I actually read the blog unlike some of you and he's very civil about the score. He concedes certain complaints and doesn't act like he's the greatest thing ever. I personally like the idea of a developer responding to reviews, if it's done with respect like with Jaffe. It must suck to put a lot of time into something you really like and see someone trash it.

And don't think Zelda: TP is the first time people have started complaining about GS. There's also Soul Calibur II, Mario Kart 64, MGS 1&3, Zelda: MM, and countless other anal-retentive scores.

@Geo

Yeah there is a clear content difference, and that's why CAC is only 10 fucking dollars.

@41

MK64 was a full priced $50 game when it was released.

Anyway, just about the only person making any sense in these comments is Sheppy. Jaffe is a good dev. I'm glad he speaks his mind. I see no reason why devs can't defend their games against reviews. Why does everyone here act like they can't? Sometimes these reviews really don't make any sense.

Hate to correct you, Vidikron... my MarioKart 64 was $65 when it first came out.

But I tell everybody what. Friday nights, I have friends over for some multiplayer gaming. This week is CAC and Worms (possibly Beatmania Red or Happy Sky). And this groups tends to be harsh. If they deem it $10 well spent, then so be it.

I'd have preferred Twisted Metal Online, but CAC doesn't look to be a total loss, just not as much as I had hoped for.

Goddamnit I AM SICK OF THIS GUY!

@ sheppy

Right back to the Nintendo thing Right? By the way creating a blog is impossible right? I mean David Jaffe's Blog had to be approved by the government? Then ten different secret clearances had to be passed to get one. Yes yes a blog is a national secret.

See if you jab at nintendo I will in some way what Lose it? F NINTENDO F THEM TWICE. I don't own a WII! So lets see what you have this time around. Because I did take time to list other games that got subpar scores that sucked it up.

Yeah He says he isn't Bashing them sure, Then goes on to say he finds their rating of his game UNFAIR! See I can apply his logic the same way.

President Bush is an accomplished man and Harvard graduate who worked his way to the Presidency doing an array of corporate political jobs. From working as a Oil company CEO, to being the Head of a major league baseball team, Finally being a Governor of Texas.

You see how I build him up just to do this?

To bad in his stint as a CEO in an Oil company he was so incompetent it was said he couldn't find Oil in Texas. As Governor of the fine state of Texas, he had the record for the most people on death row while having the worst record for educational standards, and health care in the nation. All culminating to his debacle in the war in Iraq in which he has caused his parties to lose seats in congress and created a never ending quagmire for American troops.

Oh yes I only think the Game is 8-10 and by the way I think Game Spot rating is unfair, but only take what I THE GAME CREATOR say with a Grain of salt.

Further more Fans like online games such as Dinner Dash yet Game sites rate them poorly (this is a jab at them not really knowing what the fans want) so really I think it is up to the fans.

So The guys that Gave 8.5 yeah they know what gaming is. But you guys 1. Don't know what the fans want 2. Are out of sync with others in your own industry, and 3. Didn't understand my vision so you are Unfair. BUT.... BUT I AM NOT BASHING YOU!

Let me clearly state this Again F NINTENDO! So you don't have any special wiggle room on this one. You think he mentioned IGN and 1UP For his health? He mentioned them as an example of what he thinks the game should have got, what game sites should be doing. He also mentioned them to point out Game spot was alone, think of it this way.

Hey Everybody else Likes it Something must be wrong with GAME SPOT. Ask your self something Why didn't he just handle Game Spot by them self, why did he go out of the way to mention Iup and IGN. I mean you yourself Said it, it is HIS BLOG nobody else put it there. HMMMMM yeah but he isn't BASHING their opinion, NO he is just doing his damnedest to discredit their rating.

Use the mentality that everybody else likes it, and you are the weirdo and other sites will think twice before crapping on it. That is why IGN and 1UP's name is even listed their with the scores entail. Hey fans don't listen to them they are out of touch.

The Best part is, How all of you ran to his defense Bashing Nintendo! WOW that was awesome, and yet in his little NON-Bashing of Game Spot he explains that maybe Reviewers won't like what he is doing with Calling all Cars cause it is not Like is old stuff.

So get that he believes his hardcore fanbase that is used to his God of war offerings might not even get the fun in Calling all Cars. Wow hmmm, I am not even going to pick that apart. Hey you Liked my God of war series SLAP! Get on ball bitch and like this to. Brillant Just wow.

So by all means come again how he is not bashing? Come again how he is not trying to use his blog broader than just his personal view points? You believe that one and, I got one about a bridge to sell you.