Too be honest, i'm lvl 30ish [out of 45] in FE and i guess the review does touch exactly on the points that are dragging the game down. He obviously did not say a word about the crafting system (surprisingly) as that is probably the reason most players stick around as long as i do.

The questing and combat is as the review says, not really great or new. I would even go as far as saying take the new combat system in SWG [clunkyness and all] and you'll feel a disturbing resemblance..

So at lvl 30 i'm kinda in a rutt, the crafting is such a massive exercise that i kinda become annoying if you just want to "play" instead of "gather gather gather, queue up, wait 12 hours" .

Of course Factions he does not touch on, as it doesn't exist that early in the game, but i can't say it's -that- interesting once you get to it. Factions lacks the plot/story/identity/roleplay, so everyone just grind faction points like they do in WoW for the gear/skills rather than what the faction stands for.
 

Tobold c'mon man. That was one of the WORST reviews ever written for an MMO.

At least link something with some meat to it if you are going to force your opinion of the game on others. Of all the reviews you could link...you pick that. I wonder why? Because YOU didn't like it?
 

Played it for a week, it may not be a wow clone but you sure have to GRIND right away. Yuck. I didnt care for the swearing you cant turn off, and it just seemed like it was not refined...not ready for release...I love FPS games...but have since moved on..back to WoW and AVA.
 

At least link something with some meat to it if you are going to force your opinion of the game on others. Of all the reviews you could link...you pick that. I wonder why? Because YOU didn't like it?

Well, give me a link to what you think is a GOOD review of Fallen Earth.

There are two reasons I linked to this one: A) It is new, dating from this week. And B) It does mention the negative points of Fallen Earth I noticed myself.

Because the WORST reviews I've seen of Fallen Earth have been the gushing ones, the ones that do not admit that the game might not be perfect. The ones that never mention that there is a lack of polish, or that FPS combat has some drawbacks. Sorry, but a stream of words of fanboi adoration do not a review make. And just because you like Fallen Earth does not make any review which isn't praising it a bad review.

Furthermore a link to a review certainly does not constitute forcing my opinion of the game on others. Didn't you see the "play the trial and form your own opinion" part?

If you can find me a link to a Fallen Earth review which you consider fair, and in which the negative points I know are listed as well as the positive points, then I'll edit my original post and add a paragraph with that link to it as well. Fair?
 

Got to agree with Angrygamer and really cant see why you even bothered to link that particular review other than a 'Im right as they dont like it either'.

You dont like Sandbox games we get it.
 

i'll add yes Fallen Earth does lack polish but if you had even bothered to keep an eye on it you would notice the devs have been extremely busy recently adding patches, graphics updates and new content for players to enjoy. All this from a small group of devs is something we should be applauding.

IMO if 2009 should be remembered for anything MMO wise its that two indy dev teams (Aventurine and Icarus)each with their own ideas dared to break the mold and stole the show from bigger budget MMOs like Aion and Champions. Not everyone will like the games granted but hey it has certainly given the market a bit of a shake imo.

I cant access game sites at work but I think gamerzines (could be wrong)are doing quite an interesting series of extended reviews on Fallen Earth
 

I just want to add to my original post...

FE is 80% Crafting, 20% the other stuff.

The review only talks about the 20%other stuff.

Do a search in the article for the word "crafting" . The review skipped right past the "core" gameplay of FE.

It's like reviewing WoW and skipping the Dungeon/Raid content.
 

lol Tobold, you poor guy, you try to provide links to other games or even mention other games and you get reamed.

People asking for links -- here's a little something for you: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=fallen+earth+reviews

I imagine that any positive or negative reviews found there would be Tobold's fault :)
 

lol Tobold, you poor guy, you try to provide links to other games or even mention other games and you get reamed

Well, I get reamed too when I talk about WoW. :)
 

Thanks for the link. It describes the things what would turn me away from a game like this pretty good.

Hey Fanbois could you stop with the petty comments please, it is getting rather tiresome to hear that old tune again and again.
 

Im mearly questioning why tobold is giving it any blog time because by his own admission he played a whopping 1 hour of it, then puts up a link to a shoddy half assed review which if you read the comment section:

'Crafting is my least favorite part of any mmorpg and normally I don’t bother with it, which is why I didn’t mention it in the review.'

This is a quote from the 'reviewer' , now Im sorry if you are going to be critical or review a game then you should give it a fair outing and try everything.

That review may as well have been the infamous Darkfall review written by Eurogamer.

Now for someone who cries out at Syncaine for commenting on a game he hasnt played in a while I think its a touch of double standards.
 

@ Stargazer

Funny how you make a generalisation about people who disagree with tobolds actions, I've been playing Fallen Earth for a couple of months and have highlighted plenty of flaws / weaknesses in the game.

My problem remains its not a fair review as the reviewer couldnt be bothered to delve into one of the deepest aspects of the game.
 

I'm not gonna fault you for you all believe, after it isn't WoW and doesn't hold your hand. Tobold I know you go a long way back, but these other commenters...well.

At any rate, Massively has great coverage on this game. while I don't go there that much, they DO get the game. We as gamers need more risks like this game or we get shoveled the same WoW shit with different skins time after time.

Open your eyes a little people. Not all MMO's used to be WoW clones.
 

Still, in spite of my offer to post it, you couldn't find a single link to a better balanced review of Fallen Earth.

People do not necessarily want the gameplay and hand-holding of WoW. They do however want the quality of execution of WoW. Being different from WoW does not automatically make a game great. It still needs to be polished, have a well balanced game design, and be fun.

Open your eyes yourself, because otherwise we'll end up with a MMO market full of hundreds of dinky indie games with 20k subscribers each that are only playable by hardcore fans.
 

A quick search of Gamerankings comes up with 7 reviews...

That review was pretty badly written and not objective at all. I don't fault you for linking it Tobold, but I do suggest with the high traffic on your blog you be careful whom you link to. Driving traffic to that bad review will just empower him to write more bad reviews, lol.
 

A quick search of Gamerankings comes up with 7 reviews...

Look, I can Google myself. My question was whether somebody could LINK me ONE review of Fallen Earth that you would consider well written, objective, and balanced. And I see that apparently nobody can.

Gamerankings or Google will find you bland reviews from professional game reviewers for professional game publications, where the review score more often than not depends on how much advertising the game company is paying for in that publication. If you trust that sort of review more than a review on a blog, which might, O SHOCK, even talk about the flaws of a game, be my guest.
 

Ok, one review:
MMORPG.com Fallen Earth review

I found that one to be both objective and balanced, and its not even listed on Gamerankings.

I have tried Fallen Earth and while it was buggy and had its issues both with gameplay and graphics I found it enjoyable in its own way. It reminded me of an approach to a game world that we seldom see any longer.

Of course I ended back up in WoW again due to friends, but I intend to go back and try it some more next time I grow bored with WoW.

I disagree that the same polish as WoW is needed for a game to become successful. I would say it being fun is much more important, and fun is very much subjective.

And how would ending up with hundreds of indie games be bad? There will always be AAA MMORPGs, and perhaps some of the innovations from smaller games will have an impact on the larger ones as well? I would say that's a win for all.
 

The fact is, I love crafting, love sandbox games, love post-apocalyptic and Fallen Earth was really a buggy unplayable mess.

I would have loved for it to be good.

But the game needs to have a hook and be involving from the get-go, not say "We'll fix it at end-game".

Sorry if your pet game is getting picked on but theirs alot of people interested in MMO's and new releases who deserve to know that Fallen Earth doesn't live up to its potential.
 

Well yes I could find a link to a more accomplished review, but to be honest why should I bother?

If you want to promote Fallen Earth as a poor game on your blog then thats your prerogative.
 

Edited the post to add the link to the MMORPG.com review.

If you want to promote Fallen Earth as a poor game on your blog then thats your prerogative.

You are just being paranoid. Nowhere did I call Fallen Earth "a poor game". I made it crystal clear how subjective my own reasons for not liking it are. And I repeatedly offered to post a link to a different review, and then did that when somebody finally produced one.

In short, I've been far more objective and fair in this matter than you were. You're basically demanding only to allow positive praise for your favorite game, with any negative remarks being suppressed. You will never find that on this blog, not for any game.

And before somebody else says it: I am NOT mindlessly praising World of Warcraft all the time, I wrote over a thousand posts criticizing WoW for its various flaws. But that is exactly the problem of really balanced and fair reporting: Write something fair about game X, and the game X fanbois will come howling how you were too negative, while the game X haters will claim that you praised the game too much.
 

I have not played enough of the game's beta/free-trial period to really make an adequate estimation of the game's ability to capture audiences, but I do respect your opinion on the matter even if I'm of the mind to want to play it if I had the chance.

Alss, my connection issues with FE force me to try other games. :)
 

I like Pitrelli, and read his blog almost daily, but I can't help but think how funny it is to see him getting all upset because someone pew-pew'ed his game of choice. It wasn't long ago that I was in his shoes defending AION (which I still like and play)and he was on the other side, chiding me for being a "fanboi" in not so many words. Ah, the sweet irony of this has made my morning! Thanks you two!
 

Damn you Moj! haha you are right though :)
 

I would just like to say I appreciate when you mention a game I might not have heard about, especially when it comes with a 10 day free trial. Instead of reading any reviews I just went to the site and read about the characters you can play and was very interested.
 

;-p
 

I am currently playing Fallen Earth and enjoying it quite a bit because it is so different than other MMORPGs available right now. I was in beta and did not buy the game until December because I felt it was too rough and unpolished at release time 3 months earlier. I can agree with most of the mmocrunch review. As many of mentioned the lack of even mentioning trade skills is a big issue. All of the problems though stem from one line in the review, “Fallen Earth feels like they took an RPG and incorporated a FPS style of combat, when it should of been the other way around.” Most of us that like the game would disagree greatly with this line. We like that it is mainly an RPG. The review wanted an FPS and so overall did not like the game. I would expect Global Agenda to be more up the reviews ally.

I personally don’t care one way or the other that combat has FPS elements. I don’t play the game because of that. I grew tired of every MMORPG incorporating arena style battlegrounds, instant immersion breaking travel, and a general a lack of the need to think and plan. A world that feels real even if not scientifically possible is a nice change from fantasy and even pure science fiction. I still have a subscription to one of those MMORPGs plus beta and f2p games when I want but FE scratches an itch.