Takahashi apologizes for Mass Effect review

by Alexander Sliwinski on Jan 2nd 2008 3:40PM

Mercury News reporter Dean Takahashi has quite publicly apologized for his negative and unfair review of Mass Effect. Takahashi's mea culpa reveals that he rushed into (and through) the early levels of the game without taking the time to learn the rules. BioWare can also be faulted for its lack of explanation in teaching the uninitiated the finer points gameplay.

The lengthy apology clearly highlights issues we've heard about and experienced in Mass Effect over and over again. Some simple thoughts to enjoy Mass Effect: Take your time and be sure to make time, it is an RPG after all and not a rushed experience. Hopefully for the sequel they'll fix blatantly ridiculous things like the inventory system, inability to run around the Citadel, and the slowest elevators in intergalactic history -- the title sure sold enough to warrant future installments.

Source

Tags: masseffect, mea-culpa, mercury-news, takahashi, Xbox-360

Reader Comments (50)

Ironically, this move will damage his credibility much more than the bad review to begin with.

Exactly

What's McElroy's view on this news?

Sounds like he was getting threatened by his parent company or Bioware. Just like they did to that cat who wrote a bad review on Gamespot. You can never trust any reviews unless they come from close friends. The rest are paid off.

Sorry, but you're really getting paranoid. Bioware has some really smart people behind it, and unlike Eidos, they aren't leeches who have only had one hit. Mass Effect was a great game [I was pessimistic, but it wowed me], and Takahashi didn't do it any justice.

Yea you're right because the universal consensus on Mass Effect is about the same as Kane and Lynch. I had to pay myself off to convince myself that Mass Effect was a masterpiece. Thank goodness I am cheap.

There's a difference here, Takahashi is apologising because he was pushed into a review dispite the fact he had little time to actually play a lengthy and time consuming game, and rather than be a jerk who reviewed the game with time in mind, he would at least like to show he's sorry for the mess he got pushed into. Gertsmann made his bed and was promptly pushed off it, the bed messed up and covered in rose petals to look seemingly attractive still. If more than anything, Takahashi is lashing out at his bosses rather than his bosses lashing out at him. So if anything, it's more like the opposite of the Gertsmann-Edios ordeal.

did you read his original review, and his apology? he bagged on the game because it was too hard and he was stuck on one level, but then commenters on his review successfully figured out that he forgot to spend his experience on buying up his stats and talents, so it was his own fault it was too hard. he confirmed in his apology that, indeed, he had forgotten to upgrade his characters and once he did he was able to proceed and get past where he was stuck.

Spineless!

Wait, EA sold BioWare to Eidos?

Um, did you mean "Dean" Takahashi, or was that just wishful thinking?

Dead Takahashi is his brother who hijacked the column and wrote the review...though I still agree with it, even though it was rushed through, I found it to be a wholely average game with a few great bits of merit coupled with some of the most horrific garbage to ever grace a console. Mass Effect 2 will be the greatest game ever if they fix/get rid of the Mako and deal with the texture reload.

Wait... one of his biggest problems with the game stemmed from the fact that he didn't (or forgot to) level up his characters? Has he ever played an RPG before? Who the hell is this guy?

To be fair, distributing points isn't a concept the console RPG has been doing for very long. Most of them just level you up and automatically up your attributes and hand out new abilities.

I guess he hasn't played KOTOR.

Takahashi has enjoyed incredible inside access to Microsoft, esp. the Entertainment division, in the past. Sounds like someone up there just dropped the hammer on him, forcing this mea culpa.

Or, maybe he just actually sat down and *played* the game, which is quite good (if you play it according to the rules.)

That pop-in MUST be addressed in sequels, however.

I noticed that too. At one point, I honestly thought he was a PR spokesman for them. Looks big Billy G (or one of his minions) just flexed a little muscle.

his name is Dead? Pretty sweet.

...too bad he wont be around to hear the best puns on his name.

"Dear Mass Effect:
Sorry I did not play your game according to a strict adherence to rules laid out in analog form. Excuse me for not researching the game in its entirety, including purchasing a strategy guide, to enjoy the game on its own merits.
- Sincerely,
Embarrassed Gamer"

Hah, its like the guy apologizing to Cheney for getting shot.

More appropriately, it sounds like what Sony was saying to the Lair reviews.

I think he said he only played 8 hours. For your first play through of Mass Effect you shouldn't even leave the citadel by then.

The most interesting thing about the criticisms of Mass Effect is the blatant hypocrisy regarding the slow load times, rubbish AI and framerate slowdowns.
For me, it is still the only game that makes me envious of 360 owners - but I also remember all those posts "cell cant do AI", "PS3 has insufficent RAM and a weak graphic card", "Blu-ray is slow" and "Cell is not useful for gaming programs". Funny when games like Uncharted have proved the reverse (no load times, barely any slowdowns, great graphics and much better AI) it seems these are not so important, eh?

They still are important factors, however, the Mass Effect problems are more likely a direct result of Microsoft pressuring BioWare to send the game out in time for the 2007 holiday season. ME is a game that should still be in testing right now, instead Microsoft wanted to add a major weapon to its arsenal against the PS3. Unfortunately, too many people are willing to ignore major quality assurance blunders and call the game the greatest thing ever. If it were released by anyone else and with less hype, it would probably be slammed much like above. All this does is tell developers and publishers it is perfectly acceptable to release unfinished games because the market is too stupid to demand a completed product.

Who the hell said the cell processor can't do AI? They're fucking stupid. AI isn't processor-based, it's software based. You could technically have AI on an old IBM 8088, it'd take about 10 years to complete a process, but there you go. With the Cell Processor being a potentially more powerful CPU than the Xeon processor used in the Xbox 360.
Technically, anything created for the Xbox 360 can easily be ported to run on the PS3. It's also vice-versa, however if you're developing for Bluray, you're not going to be as space-concious when developing and that big chuck-'o-space difference between Bluray and DVD9 will be the biggest challenge for developers outside of multipul discs. But there we go.

Meh, but you have to admit, there is bugger all explanation of ANYTHING in that game. I was 16 hours in before I found that horrible dune buggy had a cannon. Still can't find the "stop handling like a supermarket trolley" button tho.

Yeah, I found it on the "controls" screen. And once you find it, nothing is difficult to destroy again. Just turn 90 degrees to the target, turn your turret, press LT, then aim and press RB. Move forward and backward once in a while to dodge bullets, repeat.

When they didn't put in a good tutorial, they kind of left themselves open to people not understanding the game well.

Also what I found stupid was the cannon, which is more useful and pretty much kills everything bar the big stuff in one hit, is the right bumper. The machine gun, which has less power then my pistol now (I'm not kidding) and seems to just annoy enemies to death after an our or so, is on the trigger. When has the bumpers EVER been used as a fire button? WHEN? I found it by hitting it by mistake! Before then I was just running past everything, which was sadly a working tactic.

What score did he give the game? Frankly, I felt the game was a little bit disappointing. Unless, he made up blatant lies about the game, why apologize? The game does indeed have its far share of problems.

He didn't give it a score. You have to read the article to see his thoughts rather than the Cliff Note version people usually skip to.

I thought the new article was refreshing. He had played it way too little to review it and didn't get the concept down before attacking the makers. In the end, he learned from his mistake and said so - pretty balsy.

I don't see how the review is unfair. It's wrong, but everyone is wrong once in a while.

I liked the game, and I felt the combat was good. That's another man's opinion.

He's right about the grenades though. They're awful, and none of your other squad mates even can carry them which would seem like a big loss, but it isn't since they suck anyway.

pwned.

if the guy didn't even know how to level up, he should not EVER review another rpg. Seriously how do you miss the giant flashing squad button in the menu when you level.

The game doesn't teach you anything, boo hoo. I respect it more for not holding my hand, it's a problem too many games suffer from (well that and being too easy). Contra III never held my hand, and neither did super ghosts and goblins but i had a blast.

I'll admit i've fallen victim to the constant hand holding before. When i started playing Wild Arms on the PSN, I kept getting confused where to go because unlike most modern rpg's, the game didn't tell me where i had to go. But in the end i loved it and respected it more for doing that to me. Brought me back to the old days

Well, most people wouldn't know what leveling up is (Outside of gamers) and he's reviewing for a major publication that has a sizable readership that's not in any shape or form into RPG's then yes, it actually points out a valid point.

I read the review, it's not bad as a reflection of what a person that's new to A-RPG's might encounter playing the game.

Note to self: Don't try to post half-asleep

but dont the greatest games/franchises get criticised to death? ( halo, gta, MGS etc)

wasnt oblivion, one of the highest rated and most praised games of this current gen, criticised for almost the exact same problems as mass effect?

great games will have issues and could always use more development time,but the good always manages to outwiegh the bad. thats why they're great games. the shortcomings always stand out more on a great game. like a blemish on the face of an otherwise beautiful girl.

the thing with oblivion is, as it has the same problems as Mass Effect (worse imo, the framerate was absolutely horrid in oblivion whereas everything was fine in ME for me) people didn't penalize oblivion for it. It got mid to high 90s in most places, 100s in others whereas ME mostly got low 90s-high 80s in most respectable places.

Fair? definitely not but them's the breaks

I did Oblivion on the PC but probably would have bagged on it on the console. Mass Effect is a 360 exclusive. There aren't numerous hardware setups that need to be dealt with. There aren't different OSs either. Just one, universal system. Same OS, same innards, no excuses for sloppy programming. Bethesda has a tiny bit of leway given they had to deal with dozens of hardware combinations, but not by much. BioWare had just the 360. That is not an excusable oversight. Console games are supposed to just work. Mass Effect doesn't just work. I could overlook obscure bugs that pop up in rare, highly specialized situations, but when the entire graphics engine is sloppily done and evident everywhere in the game, we should not give any quarter and even outright boycot the game until they release a finished, not BETA release, version.

my post was in part a respone to laughing target.

ME is good, just not GOTY good.

The UI is absolutely terrible, if you enjoy shooting at some vague target that resembles a period whenever you drive the landing vehicle then you may like this game. The crosshairs will blend in with most surroundings and are almost useless.

There are times when my character will stop moving in the game but I still have control. Save and Load fix this but this is something I shouldn't have to do.

If there is too much action close up on screen the game will hard lock on you. Reproduced this twice so far.

It's a great game with a great storyline but it is not GOTY quality that some sites have given it. Tutorial on the UI alone would have made this game much better. I almost stopped playing it within ten minutes out of frustration.

I was planning on buying Mass Effect the week after release, but some bad reviews calmed my need to buy this game. After Christmas I said "Fuck it" and bought it anyway.

I'm so glad I did. I wish I had bought it sooner. Sure it has problems, but even with the problems it's one of the best games I've played all year.

Yeah.. I forgave the problems as well since the story was actually good, and I like SciFi. Plus a game like this needs to be supported. I think they where more focused on story line and branching options during the test period however.
Its a shame they didn't address the actual obvious problems that should have been fixed. Ie. Poor AI, texture popping, framerates, long elevator loading (who actualy explored the Normandy after each mission?.. that elevator ride down to Wrek (sp) and the on board merchant was unnecessary!

"...he rushed into (and through) the early levels of the game without taking the time to learn the rules. BioWare can also be faulted for its lack of explanation in teaching the uninitiated the finer points gameplay."

sheesh, is every developer going to make a video to show how to play their game (a la "Lair"?).

RTFM!!!!!!!!

Stupid Wii60! I want to finish Galaxy and start Bioshock and Mass Effect but is it just me, or is Call of Duty 4 really that good?

i LOVED that mass effect didnt tell me how to do everything. tutorials blow. though it could have used maybe a SMALL amount more help.

and i think when they fix all the glitches and graphical bugs, balance things, make better AI(though i think it makes sense for the creepers to be retards), and a few other things, the second game will be purely amazing.

seems like a long list, i know, but as said, there are so many GREAT things that make the game awesome.

I FINISHED MASS EFFECT IN 12 HOURS! That is just WRONG!

Mass Effect is a flawed masterpiece (just like Jade Empire was), because:

- it's far too short and easy. how can a supposed epic adventure be wrapped up by visiting just 5 or 6 planets? & forget the side-quests, my time's too precious to run errands

- the combat is stilted, especially by stupid rules like 'you can be a balanced fighter and magician but you can't snipe. ever' Why can't I earn the right to snipe?

- the textures always load a good few second after the character and background models. that's just wrong for a title 3.5 years in the making

I could go on but I won't... Mass Defect?

my first time through took me approximately 38 hours and 2 minutes, but i did everything since you know...that's what you're supposed to do in RPG's. This isn't halo folks, it doesn't cater to the basic instinct of man which is ME WANT GUN, ME WANT SHOOT THINGS. It's an in-depth galaxy with an incredible story and hours of backstory. And if you dont like story, then why are you playing an RPG and not halo? (this goes for everyone not trying to pick on James)

As for your sniping, you can learn to do it. You have to get the 150 sniping kill achievement with a class that can do it, then you can learn it with any class.

I'm a few hours into ME and so far I've been incredibly frustrated at the lack of the game or the manual explaining to me basic concepts.

-Sometimes the icon next to my teammates name changes, nowhere in the manual does it explain what these different icons mean.

-Next to each of my weapons in the equipment screen there are also strange icons - again, I can't find anywhere that tells me what these symbols mean.

-When I shoot the sniper there's no bullet trail or anything to let me know the shot went off. And the enemies don't really react or anything when they do get hit, so I don't have a good way of knowing if I hit them or not.

-There's no icon or anything to tell me where to go. I was supposed to meet that Quarian girl "in an alleyway", too bad there's dozens of alleyways in the Citadel and no way to know which one to go to, nor does my journal tell me which specific one.

I love the production and cinematics, but there's just sooo many little things that constantly frustrate me. A little explanation during the first hour of gameplay would help immensely. Rant over.

tmacairjordan87: i'm a games journalist so I know you're supposed to take your time in RPGs, thanks! the fact remains I'd never have been able to finish KOTOR or a final fantasy in 12 hours, & I wasn't particularly rushing in Mass Effect...

As for the sniping thanks for the info: why the f*** didn't Bioware put it in the manual?!

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