New Review Posed: Fight Club

Daniel Weissenberger · 01-07-2005, 01:14 PM

I review Vivendi-Universal's... uh... game... Fight Club, and it inspires me to wonder about corporate morality:

"Fifty dollars can buy an awful lot of things. Twenty-Five delicious pomegranates. Two DVDs. Both volumes of Alan Moore's Supreme, possibly the single greatest comic book series ever written. An evening at the movies for two and a half people.

If whichever executive at Vivendi-Universal thought that this game were equal to, or greater in value than any of those things, I'd have trouble imagining someone more self-deluded. If that same executive, and this is the theory I tend to believe in, felt that the game could be dumped on an unsuspecting audience who would snatch it up based on its association with a popular movie, as well as the attractive graphics on the back, then I have trouble imagining someone with less respect for the game-playing public."

If you'd like to find out just why I disliked the game this much, you can find out here.

fishgills7 · 01-08-2005, 02:40 PM

It amazes me that this game could even have been made. Did any of them actually read the book or see the movie? The spirit of anti-consumerism packaged into another shoddy movie-to-videogame...good job EA.

Dale Weir · 01-08-2005, 02:53 PM

EA didn't publish Fight Club, Vivendi Universal Games did.

Dale

fishgills7 · 01-10-2005, 05:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GC_Dale

EA didn't publish Fight Club, Vivendi Universal Games did.

Dale

Whoopsies. Good call.

Hypatia93 · 01-10-2005, 03:42 PM

Daniel,

I had a really bad feeling about this game, and your review simply confirms it.

However, I did walk away from your review with something new added to my list of "must" purchases. Alan Moore's Supreme. Back in the day I was an avid comic book reader/collector, but since moving here things have changed. I always enjoyed Alan Moore's storytelling, and I missed Supreme when it first came around. I'll be looking for it on eBay and Amazon (along with a few others I've been recently turned on to). So.. thanks!

Daniel Weissenberger · 01-10-2005, 05:09 PM

No problem-

The art is as uneven as you'd expect from an Image comic, but it's one of his best stories, especially since it's just him writing about DC characters.

Hypatia93 · 01-11-2005, 11:54 AM

And I'm a DC fan. Grew-up on 'em, so that's where my heart ultimately lies. (Not that I don't enjoy Marvel stuff now and again, but still..) Vertigo (and the comics that became part of that off-shoot DC publication) was esstentially an extension of that love into adulthood. (I only said that b/c many of Alan Moore's is/was essentially Vertigo-type stuff.)

I did some research on the comic, and you're right: the graphics appear to be the worst complaint; however, it's for Moore's writing I would be purchasing them, not graphics.

EDIT: Oh yeah. What's with your hair? Did you get a really cool hawk or something? Show and tell is a good thing.

Chi Kong Lui · 01-11-2005, 01:47 PM

Argh, I hate uneven art. I was psyched to pick up Supremes after you mentioned it, but now I'm not sure.

The production style method of Hong Kong comics and Japanese manga have me spoiled in terms of art consistency. I don't think I can go back.

Chi

Daniel Weissenberger · 01-12-2005, 11:28 AM

No, the haircut isn't anything special - it's just rare that I find myself with one that doesn't make me look like a madman.

The real tragedy about the art is that all of the flashback sequences are done by Rick Veitch, who is superb and completely consistent, and then when it gets back to the main story, it's some kind of over-stylized image hack handling the art. Luckily the story is so good that you can completely overlook any problems with the art.

Spokkersan · 01-14-2005, 04:06 AM

I was on the QA team for this game I can tell you as a matter of fact that the game is much much much worse than the review makes it out to be. Based on GameCritic's review scale I would rate it a -1. There is nothing redeeming about this title. It's insulting to anybody who was in this game's target demographic.

Here's one minor detail. I remember suggesting that you should be able to pause the game and look at the moves list for your character. Of course, suggestions and the majority of C bugs were ignored. When I read the IGN review of this game I was not surprised to see that they complained about the fact that you cannot pause the game and look at your character's move list.

Chi Kong Lui · 01-14-2005, 10:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spokkersan

I was on the QA team for this game I can tell you as a matter of fact that the game is much much much worse than the review makes it out to be. Based on GameCritic's review scale I would rate it a -1. There is nothing redeeming about this title. It's insulting to anybody who was in this game's target demographic.

Man, I think this is the first time someone from the development team actually complain we should have given a game a lower score!

Chi

Daniel Weissenberger · 01-14-2005, 12:45 PM

And IGN still gave it a 4.5.

Actually, the only reason I gave Fight Club a 2 rather than the usual 0.5 I give absolutely broken, worthless games is that I found the graphics kind of pretty.

Chi Kong Lui · 01-14-2005, 12:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GC_Danny

And IGN still gave it a 4.5.

Actually, the only reason I gave Fight Club a 2 rather than the usual 0.5 I give absolutely broken, worthless games is that I found the graphics kind of pretty.

The rating on your review is a 5.0.

Chi

Daniel Weissenberger · 01-14-2005, 12:50 PM

Yup - that's a typo, but now it's fixed.

Daniel Weissenberger · 01-14-2005, 01:00 PM

Oh, and Spokker, sorry for saying that the game's problem were indicative of a sign of a lack of testing - I usually assume in cases like this that QA wasn't given enough time to work with a game because of a rushed schedule, rather than good QA being ignored by the developers, which is probably a bad assumption to make.