Is It Really That Bad? – The Sum of All Fears

Posted by derekalexander on Sunday, October 23, 2011 · 27 Comments

The Happy Nerd once again sets out to find out “Is it really that bad?”. This time he checks out the game Sum of All Fears for the Gamecube, not to be confused with the movie tie in games for various other systems.

TriforceofCheese

At 35:02, I thought he pulled out some pot.

http://twitter.com/davidhass3lh0ff michael smith

lol that would be one hell of a big bag of pot it is was hehe

Medialen72

The sounds you hear are likely footing sound, walking running. crap sound I have heard thisin other games too but this takes all prices in shitty foot Sound
http://twitter.com/g1X ಠ__ಠ

You want a decent Tom Clancy Shooter on the GC? Try Rainbow Six Lockdown. It was ok, at least nothing TOO bad. Certainly way better that… this.
BlackagarBoltagon

“Are you guys making popcorn back there?” Holy hell that was funny. Instantly imagined the character turning around and seeing his teammates with a bowl and a popcorn maker with that hand in the cookie jar look. Reminds me of an Airplane or Naked Gun like joke.
BlackagarBoltagon

Interesting show but it isn’t always intresting in an entertaining way, which I guess is an expected problem when doing a “This game sucks type of vid”. On one hand you have to see it to understand the problems, on the other side it can be boring to watch. Maybe do a little more editing to focus on specific examples of pros and cons. Definitely a tricky sell especially since you are going more for the live experience than what would seem like scripted comedy or additional plot. I would like to see a few games vindicated so I definitely interested in seeing what games you choose. I feel like Bionic Commando 360/PS3 got a very bad reputation when it was released for $60, but is amazing for like $20 or the usual $10 you see at Gamestop. Good luck man.
http://twitter.com/davidhass3lh0ff michael smith

i love this series and i dont think you need to play half a game to know if it’s bad and by lever 3 it werent gonna get better lol again looking forward to the halloween is it realy that bad
Vfx3

Derek suffers, so the masses don’t.
Shawn

Too long. Seriously, 48 minutes?
Wad

I checked out at 4 min. I’m not watching you watch credits. Sorry.

Fail

He stops almost right away.

Carlitonsp

Damn, when even the Happy Nerd hates your game, you did something HORRIBLY wrong. Props to Derek to having this amount of patience.
krysala

Stupid dope dance FTW!!
http://twitter.com/YukiViolet Yuki

Another good episode of IIRTB! You really had the patience to play that piece of shit. I couldn’t even laugh at this game as much as I did when you played Charlie’s Angels. Some of the jokes you said were fucking awesome, though xD Definitely a god awful game. But yeah, keep up the good work, Derek! Can’t wait for the next episode!
Anonymous

The graphics, stupid AI (actual quote=”Fine, more glory for me!”) and crappy sound I could muscle through; but that bull**** reload time just destroyed my patience. ‘Medal of Honor’ for the PS1 had more realistic reload times AND a better aiming apparatus. I mean did he have to unwrap the magazines from plastic bubble wrap?

‘The Sum of all Fears’ is actually that bad of a game.
Peter Quatrine

Perhaps a bit overly long, but I enjoyed this. It’s important to see and play bad game as it is experience good, well made ones, if only from a purely academic/design standpoint.

However, I think, you need to find your groove, this sort of hybrid between let’s play/critique/review is an interesting idea with plenty of room to expand. It’s a fairly original concept, something that is lacking in videogame internet culture. On that ground, I would encourage you to keep working on it, refining it. It has a huge amount of potential.

Here’s an idea, thinking back to your Rocket Knight Adventure review, why not do Awesome Possum, see if your prediction is correct? Is it really that bad? Or could be an over looked classic

Love your stuff Derek, keep it up.
Jim Greene

i’m sure it’s been said a thousand times in both the Charlie’s Angels and this vid, GET A MEMORY CARD!!! you’re good but you might not be that good.
bowser one

i like the series derek hell most of what u do is funny as shit ( april fools crono trigger anyone? :3 ) but 48 min was simply too long…but i also realize u wana see as much of the game as possible…maybe editing it down to only the good parts of the game the wtf momments and assuring us u did play the full hour. kinda like how lordkat assured us he didnt use cheats or save states. i hate to say it happy (ur nickname ) but this can get kinda ….boring.. now im not saying that to be rude as a huge fan of yours i fig i should tell u. hell you’d want a friend to tell u if u had something on your facebefore you went to talk to a pretty girl right? same deal. but i am digging the new series and mayhaps something other than a gc game next time…i think ninetndo likes to ignore the fact that bomb exsisted lol and its got pleanty of crap games as we all know…maybe a sega game or even AN lJN GAME! can happy prove an LJN GAME isnt THAT bad?!
Ryan96

This game is Pop Tarts
Anonymous

BUT WHO WAS PHONE?
Annoyed Commenter

We know that the game: is crap; sound is crap; controls are crap; and graphics are crap…. your playing an old game…I wish that I could get my 18 minutes back that I spent watching part of HVGN’s review. Just stick to talking about SEGA NES and SNES games that you loved when you were a kid because this was a waste of time.

camseyeview

obvious troll is obvious gtfo the site

AV

I didn’t think 48 minutes was too long, great video Derek!
milky.mosaic

I agree that this video was kind of long, but I think it mostly felt long because the majority of the game felt the same. Like you said, the graphics are bland; the gameplay is too, and so there isn’t much different happening from one minute to the next to keep me glued. I was honestly more interested in the schadenfreude of watching you play this than I was knowing what in the game was bad. So…props to you for being awesome enough to keep me watching, but the game was so bland it almost ruined the video. Maybe it’s just my taste in games is different, but maybe pick more interesting games in the future.
Rabbitfrog

No not too long. Thank you Derek. I like these long videos. Don’t watch it in one sitting guys.
http://twitter.com/BeerMoneyMike Michael Morin

the graphic look more like n64 i think goldeneye had best lol
Gamerxbox94

I’m sorry, but before you critique a game, you should learn how to play it. You sucked at playing the easiest levels of the game.
But you could have used the Quick Save/Quick Load feature and the game becomes much less difficult.Yes the sound is somewhat lacking, but it definitely didn’t go as far to cause a headache. The controls sensitivity could have been increased to speed up strafing and turn speed. Personally, I have never had a problem with the controls. As for the weapons not having “enough power”, of course that is going to be the case if all you use is is a silenced 9mm SMG. However if you choose a weapon like the M4 or even the field sniper, you get more of a feeling of “power”. Aiming in the game is not as difficult as you made it appear either. Have you ever tried hitting something as your running and being shot? Try standing still before firing. It is also very possible to not set off the alarm in mission 3. You have to simply shoot the enemies before they can shoot you as they don’t have silenced weapons like yourself. However, I will admit the AIs are stupid, but for the time the game was created, they were decent. But as far as friendly fire is concerned, you can’t criticize the AIs because you shot your allies as often, if not more often, than them. That’s excluding all the intentional friendly fire. At least they followed behind you most of the time. You didn’t even touch on all the quick mission options you can choose, including fire fight and lone wolf, which add to the games value exponentially. Don’t get me wrong, I think the has some pretty messed up parts, but the game isn’t nearly as bad as your review.

Is It Really That Bad? – The Sum of All Fears

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