Downward Spiral or Summer Blah’s Dragging Game Scores Down?

I’m not usually the type to pin a game’s fate on its review scores but flipping through the latest issues of Nintendo Power and the Official Xbox Magazine, I couldn’t help but notice the overall blah scores and mediocre opinions. Granted, it’s summer movie tie-in time but even venerable classics like Mario Party 8 don’t rank much higher than average. The Xbox Live Arcade scene is pretty bleak as well with more stale arcade ports barely able to rank points.

Also, check out the difference between the Wii and DS versions of the movie tie-ins. A 4.5 on Wii compared to a 7.0 on DS? Developers seem to be realizing they can’t just cut a console title in half, scale down the textures and start stamping copies. Hopefully the same trend works for the Wii and when Spider-Man 4 hits every console in 2009 the Wii version will be a completely unique, highly specialized adventure. Meanwhile, the DS version will be even more spectacular and just as different from the other iterations. Until then, it looks like we’ve got a long, hot, boring summer to sit through.

Wii
Mario Party 8 – 7.5
MK: Armageddon – 8.0
Escape from Bug Island (Necronesia) – 3.2

Pirates of the Caribbean – 4.5
Spider-Man 3 – 6.0
Bust-A-Move Bash! – 6.5
Surf’s Up – 6.0
Tamagotchi: Party On! – 2.5

Nintendo DS
Cookie & Cream – 6.5

Shrek the Third – 7.0
Diner Dash – 6.5
Pirates of the Caribbean – 7.0
Spider-Man 3 – 7.0
Touch the Dead – 5.5
Death Jr. – 5.0
Etrian Odyssey – 7.0
DBZ Harukanaru Densetsu – 4.0
The Settlers – 5.0

Planet Puzzle League – 8.5
Naruto Ninja Council 3 – 6.0

Xbox 360
Dirt – 9.0
Call of Juarez – 6.0
Spider-Man 3 – 6.5
Pirates of the Caribbean – 5.5

Xbox Live Arcade

Soltrio Solitaire – 6.0
Discs of Tron – 8.0
Tron – 7.0
Gyruss – 5.5
Track & Field – 3.0