Quoted from haveaniceswim:I never heard of the guy, so I took a look. I don’t think I can rely on his ratings, since MM (consensus #1 pin of all time) is #465 on his list, behind at least 100 EM machines that are IMO unplayable, because who would play an EM if a SS, even a bad SS, was available?
TOM (#1 rated game on IPDB) is #769 on his list, behind Baby Pac-Man and Granny and the Gators, and I assume at least a couple of gumball machines with flippers.
He downgrades both MM and TOM because of “scoring imbalance”. Not sure why that would knock a game down 400-700 spots, but hey, balanced scoring must mean a lot to c2s. His comments seem to be directed at tournament players, which I am not.
I’m looking for fun, not balanced scoring, so MM and TOM are in a perpetual battle for the #1 spot on my list.
Part of the reason many of us value Caucasian2Step reviews is he has rated almost 900 games. He has not just given them a number but also written a detailed review of each using a consistent format. These are games he has actually played and not just repeating the popular opinion of the hour. Many of us enjoy reading his reviews and use them to seek out games we might not have played otherwise. I don't think it is fair to discount these just because you disagree or because you aren't a tournament player. I don't always agree with him but I respect this thoughtful opinions.
It is very difficult to compare modern SS games to EMs and pinside actually has different top lists for each. Many of the criteria used to rate modern games (animations, sound) aren't even applicable to EMs. So I don't think you should discount a reviewer because several EM games are rated higher than solid states.
If you look at his MM review his major complaint about the game is that the main scoring strategy is just to hit the castle repeatedly. This is a legitimate criticism which even the games programmer has acknowledged. He still gives it a 7.53 which is lower than average for that game but I don't feel that constitutes the type of extreme rating that others are complaining about.
