Shaq-Fu: unfairly attacked?

[DickNixonArisen]

 

 

a horrible idea with average or good mechanics is still a horrible idea.

 

 

Quite true. It's still a horrible idea - but that doesn't necessarily make it a horrible game. The premise of an experience is not its entirety.

 

Putting Shaq in a fighter was and is a horrible idea, but Delphine ended up with it, and it turned out better than it has any right to be for that reason. Even so, it's still not a great title - but it's not even close to as bad as people make it out to be. I can only assume they lack the ability to see beyond the bizarre license to the average, playable, not-totally-fucked game within. They don't seem to understand that a good band made up of good musicians with good equipment does not become the worst band ever just because their name is Kung-future Duckfucker, and all their songs are about mice. I would play about fifty Genesis games over Shaq-Fu, but there are far worse titles.

[superdevil]

a good band made up of good musicians with good equipment does not become the worst band ever just because their name is Kung-future Duckfucker

 

No, but change that name to Kung-future Dicksucker and you're suddenly the lousiest band on Earth.

[+thegoldenband]

a horrible idea with average or good mechanics is still a horrible idea.

 

Quite true. It's still a horrible idea - but that doesn't necessarily make it a horrible game. The premise of an experience is not its entirety.

Somehow that reminds me of an exchange from one of my favorite movies:

 

Mary: Remember dearest, everyone thought Jesus Christ Superstar was a stupid idea.

Dexter: Jesus Christ Superstar WAS a stupid idea.

Mary: True.

 

Speaking of movies, film is one of the art forms that's taught me to never trust any "Worst Ever" list, because they're usually such flagrant examples of groupthink. For one thing, you've got a movie like Plan 9 From Outer Space: often branded the "worst film ever", it isn't even close to the bottom of the heap -- I've seen dozens of movies that are much, much worse on every level, and which would make you want to claw your eyes out rather than watch them again.

 

So the "worst ever" tag annoys me because it's so patently not true: whatever Plan 9's flaws (and there are many indeed), at least it's entertaining and energetic. It never feels like a giant middle finger to the audience, which so many films (and games!) do.

 

Anyway, my copy of Shaq-Fu arrived today, so I'm planning to find out the truth for myself!

[godslabrat]

I think people on this board tend to be more analytical than others. its a trait engineers and nerds tend to have. there is nothing wrong with this. it just needs to be understood that the world is not a black-and-white sum of its operating parts. a horrible idea with average or good mechanics is still a horrible idea.

 

on the other side of the coin, it wouldnt be so bad for hater sheep (zomg, avgn says this game sucks!!!) to think a bit more critically about why something is so bad, instead of just repeating what they heard elsewhere.

 

AVGN (or rather, the character James portrays) is a great example of the phenomena we're discussing. In a lot of the games he trashes, the graphics or gameplay actually weren't that bad within the context of the time the game was made. There are several cases where he makes a big deal out of a minor flaw in order to make the game seem bad enough to rant over. And it works... for him. But the key is, AVGN is not meant to be a reviewer or critic, he's pure entertainment. Someone taking the same approach and making an actual review out of it is ill-advised at best.

 

BTW, this is not in any way meant to detract from AVGN... I'm a fan of his, I'm just saying that his schtick has its place, and sincere game reviews aren't it.

[DickNixonArisen]

 

AVGN (or rather, the character James portrays) is a great example of the phenomena we're discussing. In a lot of the games he trashes, the graphics or gameplay actually weren't that bad within the context of the time the game was made. There are several cases where he makes a big deal out of a minor flaw in order to make the game seem bad enough to rant over.

 

Exactly. Context is the key word here. I could take Pitfall, or my favorite Montezuma's, and rant about how blocky the graphics were, how there's only one button, how the little guy barely looks human compared to ps3 graphics. That's just not reasonable - but compared to other Atari 2600 games, pitfall and montezuma's are both GREAT titles. Just as Shaq-Fu, compared to other games on the same system, is merely average or below average.

 

I don't find AVGN funny at all myself. I just don't like his delivery very well. But it's a good point that he's an entertainer - like Glen Beck or Rush Limbaugh - they're there to entertain by saying offensive things, just like Howard Stern. Mistaking them for commentators would lead to problems. It'd be funny to see AVGN roast a beloved game like Ico or something. One of those game magazines has a sacred cow roast where they pick on mario, zelda, metal gear, gta, etc.

[DickNixonArisen]

 

Anyway, my copy of Shaq-Fu arrived today, so I'm planning to find out the truth for myself!

 

Don't expect too much! hahaha.

 

I like the mummy and the red beast guy. The catgirl isn't bad either.

[Austin]

 

Anyway, my copy of Shaq-Fu arrived today, so I'm planning to find out the truth for myself!

 

Don't expect too much! hahaha.

 

I like the mummy and the red beast guy. The catgirl isn't bad either.

 

I don't recommend playing as Shaq unless you want to simply mash ducking-kick. His specials seem to be rather useless, such as a projectile that targets way above the enemy's head. There are much better characters in the game with more traditional fireball-esque attacks.

 

Also, if you didn't receive the game cart-only, I recommend reading the manual to get an explanation of how to block properly (there's a shield you can pull up). It's not so cut-and-dry when you jump in the game for your first time.

Edited June 4, 2010 by Austin