411 Games Fact or Fiction 08.17.07: Bioshock's high review scores, Nintendo's Metroid Prime 3 push, taking Dead or Alive 4 and Soul Calibur IV seriously, Pokémon Trainer, & More!

Posted by Tommy Coloma on 08.20.2007

411's Dan Owen and Mike Minotti tell us what they think about Bioshock's overwhelmingly positive review scores, Nintendo's lack of advertising for Metroid Prime 3, taking fighting games which feature scantily-clad women seriously, Medal of Honor Heroes 2's 32 player online matches, EA's skate., and Pokemon Trainer in this edition of Fact or Fiction Games.

Get ready for another awe-inspiring edition of Fact or Fiction. Today Mike Minotti and Dan Owen return to tell us where they stand on some of today's most important video game news and issues.

Dan can be found doing news for the Sports section and reviews for the Games section. His review for NCAA Football 08 for the Xbox 360 should be making an appearance this week. You can find it here once it goes up.

Mike's new news report, The Full Circle, is already building momentum. You can check it out every Monday for all the Xbox 360 news that you need to know. He also does "Can They Be Champ?" for the Wrestling section. The most recent one checks to see if Mr. Kennedy has what it takes to be the best.

Let's go -


1. Bioshock is getting very high marks from reviewers everywhere. You are not surprised.

Mike Minotti: Fact

You know, ever since I saw early videos of this game, I knew it was going to be special. I mean, anyone who played System Shock 2 knows what Irrational is capable of, and the underwater failed 50's utopia setting rocked artistically on so many levels. Still, even then I didn't know it would it was going to be something truly special. The demo that was released last month convinced me of that. Seriously, that demo is filled with more jaw-dropping moments than most full games, and I'm not just referring to things that look "cool." It's not filled with timed button events or whatever they call them, like games like Heavenly Sword and God of War use. This game's amazement comes from atmosphere. Everything from the lighting to the splicers' dialogue is designed to play with your mind. Then there's all the stuff we didn't even get to try in the demo, most notably the moral-conflicted Big Daddy confrontations.

Right now, GameRankings has BioShock down for a 99% average score, taken from 9 reviews. Although that's not a lot yet, that average is still incredible. It really says something when the game's demo was so good that I'm not surprised.

Dan Owen: Fact

I'm not going to lie. I did not know much about this game up until a couple of weeks ago. I'm not 100% how I missed all of the hype, but right now I am 100% on this game's bandwagon. Like Mike said, the game doesn't just have those visual moments that are awesome, it has gameplay moments that are absolutely amazing. In the previews I've seen, it seems like the developers ignored nothing. Water on the floor that you can use to electrocute enemies standing in it? That's awesome. And I think it's a pretty safe assumption that there will be plenty of other little tricks in the game just like that. And what Mike said about the environment goes for me, too. It's something I've never seen before and it looks mind-blowingly sweet.

Score: 1 for 1


2. Nintendo is doing a great job with the way they're hyping the upcoming release of Metroid Prime 3.

Mike Minotti: Fiction

I wouldn't say they've done a horrible job, but Nintendo doesn't seem to be all that interested in spending too much money advertising games that are designed for the hardcore market. Maybe they're right to do that. I mean, most people who are buying Metroid Prime 3 probably didn't need clever marketing strategies to convince them to do so. Besides, the Metroid Prime games have never been huge sellers, especially the second one. Maybe that should be all the more reason to advertise this game, but Nintendo has put some effort into it. The Metroid Channel on the Wii is a neat idea, and the timely releases of the original Metroid and Super Metroid on the Virtual Console make sense. Still, I wouldn't say they've done a great job with Metroid's hype. However, since this Metroid Prime is on a system much more popular than the GameCube was, Corruption has a pretty good chance of being the best selling Metroid Prime game yet anyways.

Dan Owen: Fiction

I cannot remember seeing a single commercial for this game so far. And that isn't for a lack of watching TV, or even being on the wrong channel. I tend to see plenty of commercials for games that run in a similar vein to Metroid Prime. Mike's right about the fact that Nintendo doesn't really need to advertise in order to get the hardcore gamers it's system is currently left without. They know about the game, and they plan on picking it up. They are missing a lot of those casual gamers who enjoy the hardcore type video games, however. I think Metroid could help push a good deal of gamers who are on the fence towards Nintendo, but the big N is going to have to promote it somehow to get this done.

Score: 2 for 2


3. You can take fighting games such as Dead or Alive 4 and the upcoming Soul Calibur IV seriously despite their overuse of scantily-clad and very well-endowed female characters.

Mike Minotti: Fiction

First off, I've never taken Dead or Alive seriously. Although I consider myself something of a fighting game fan, I never really got into that series. Besides, after the volleyball and jet-ski games, I think it would be hard for most people to take that franchise seriously.

Still, I've really enjoyed Soul Calibur over the years, even though I thought SC3 was something of a misstep for the franchise. And while the women in the game have always been pretty top heavy, at least there was no bikini mode or anything. They were still first and foremost warriors. That said, the newest screenshots for Soul Calibur 4 featuring Sophitia and Cassandra… well, it looks like the characters have been given a bit of an upgrade, and I don't mean that they have new moves or weapons. Seriously, it's almost like Soul Calibur and Dead or Alive are in some bizarre competition to objectify women as visual feasts for the eyes the best. Have you seen Taki? There's no way you can be a ninja with balance-destroying jugs like those. Anyways, I may still have fun with these games, but do I take them seriously as anything more than a fighting game? No, not really, which is a shame, since Soul Calibur's mythos at one point seemed pretty interesting to me. Now it's been overshadowed, quite literally.

Dan Owen: Fiction

Although to be fair, I never really took these games too seriously anyway just because of how I am used to playing them. I've never actually played any DoA game, and all I know about the franchise is that the volleyball games are every thirteen year old geeks masturbatory dream. I have played Soul Calibur a number of times, always with friends as we just kind of hung out. Given that's how I play the series, I never considered it a serious game. I just look at it as being a fun party type fighting game. I know there's some storyline within Soul Calibur, but I've never played the game to find out what it was. And while I can always appreciate a scantily clad woman, these games have been taken to the point that it's just in bad taste. Unfortunately, it sells games, so the companies have no incentive to change anytime soon.

Score: 3 for 3



4. Medal of Honor Heroes 2's 32 player online matches and "continuous-joining server model" will put other console multiplayer FPS games to shame.

Dan Owen: Fiction

While this game could very well rock and easily rank in gamers' top 5 online multiplayer FPS games, I think it's a bit of an overstatement to say this game will put others to shame. As I'm sure you've heard many times before, there is such a thing as too much of a good thing. The big issue I have with this is the nature of a 32 player game. I'm going to use Call of Duty 3 as an example. In Call of Duty 3, the games could be as large as 24 players. Often times this led to fast-paced mow em' down fighting. While is was fun at times, the end result often was that you died regardless of how good you were, as there were too many people blasting away to make for a realistic fight. It just reached that point where there were too many people to really be a superb first person shooter. While I have high hopes for this new Medal of Honor game, I've also got my reservations about it.

Mike Minotti: Fiction

You know, some of the most fun I've had with online gaming in the past year was with Gears of War 4 vs. 4 matches. Like Dan said, bigger is not always better. Besides, the Medal of Honor franchise is not what it used to be. I'm hardly going to admit that a MoH game will put other FPSs to shame in any way, shape, or form. What this game really needs to accomplish is to simply be good. It can worry about being the best later.

Score: 4 for 4


5. It is clear that EA's skate. will be a must have when it gets released next month.

Dan Owen: Fiction

I hadn't heard anything about this game until just now, and I've never been a huge fan of skateboarding, either games or the real thing. From the looks of things, this could be a really nice game. It's got an interesting control scheme, and it sounds like a pretty inventive take on the control scheme. I think if you are into this sort of game, and have been playing Tony Hawk's games for a while, this would be a great buy, but I won't be picking it up so it's a fiction for me.

Mike Minotti: Fiction

I'm not saying it won't be a good game, but I'm not going to give it "must have" status. I've been a long time fan of the Tony Hawk games, but lost interest in that series around THUG 2, so I'm glad to see a competitor bringing some new life to this genre. Hopefully this will inspire the Tony Hawk guys just like NFL All-Star Football inspired Madden 08 to be so good. Anyways, I'm definitely looking forward to trying the Skate demo when it's finally released, but I'm not guaranteeing a purchase on my part yet.
Score: 5 for 5


6. Naming the new Pokémon-wielding character "Pokémon Trainer" instead of Ash Ketchum in Super Smash Bros. Brawl was actually a good idea.

Dan Owen: Fact

I like this move a lot. The whole point of the Pokémon Trainer is to allow you to play as Pokémon in a unique and fun way. The emphasis is on Squirtle, Ivysaur, and Charizard; not the trainer himself. Ash has become too much of a major player in the Pokémon franchise because of the cartoons to be simply a background player. Plus, I've heard some talk of being able to customize the trainer later on down the road in connection with a Wii Pokémon game. Now, I don't play the Pokémon games, so I don't pay enough attention to be able to verify this statement in the least, but it certainly wouldn't work unless the trainer was just some random person.

Mike Minotti: Fiction

Well, if Dan's right about being able to customize the trainer, I might agree with him, but that's nothing more than a rumor at the moment. The fact is that "Pokémon Trainer" is a boring name. I know that the trainer in the Pokémon games was always supposed to represent the player, but so is Link. Remember, you can change the main character's name in every Zelda game. Why don't we just call Link "Green Elf Looking Dude" in Smash Bros? Oh, right, because that's a stupid, stupid name. Now, I'm not suggesting that they should have called him Ash. I always thought, for whatever reason, that the canonical name for the main character in the first Pokémon games was Red. See, we could have had three letters instead of four syllables.

Score: 5 for 6



We have a final score of 5 for 6. Don't forget to join us next Friday for more Fact or Fiction! It is almost an undeniable truth that those who make the effort to check back later will not have to worry about being attacked by Mr. Nutz whenever they walk through a forest.