Whose doing the review?

My best guess is Dan. But I wish someone else would have done it. I feel like the biggest fan boy for Mario probably shouldn't do the review since he will always give a extra good review. I would rather see what Jeff had to say about it.

Also, I'm sure the Quick Look is from GBE but, again, I would have liked it to be from the west crew.

@darkjohnny477: Dan said during the playdate today that he had written the review and that they'd recorded the quick look on the East coast.

Of course.

Unbiased, I'm sure. Haha

I mean you can be sure literally everyone on the crew will be playing and/or commenting on it during various podcasts. Every review ever is inherently subjective so Dan being a huge Mario fan only really matters if it goes so far as to make the review unreadable. Just how far can be too far is, again, personal preference of course but I don't think Dan can't manage to stay objective enough even with his admitted bias. I know it's a tough argument to make for a certain part of the GB userbase but I think Dan's a pretty smart guy, let's give him the benefit of the doubt.

Not to mention that it doesn't even look like "extra good review" is that much of an option with the nearly perfect scores it's gotten from any pre-release coverage/reviews but that's impossible to judge 'till we got a copy in our hands ourselves.

I fail to see how Dan is biased in any way. He's a big fan of the series. Take that into account as you read the review. That isn't a bias.

I'll be very surprised if he doesn't give it 5 stars given how positive he's been so far about it in trailers and at E3 etc.

I bet that Dan will say something like "well, Mario 3d World isn't a mainline Mario"

It'd be good to hear from the rest of the crew considering we know how hyped Dan already is for Odyssey. Got my copy coming tomorrow so I hope its amazing, Probably won't be watching the QL till a later date.

Would you want someone to review it that hates mario?

It is a bias. All reviews are biased. Completely objective reviews are almost impossible and of no use to anyone - take a look at the one Jim Sterling did a few years ago to show that point. Dan has a bias of loving Nintendo and Mario in particular. You're right that the reader should take that into account, but it's still a bias.

It'll get 5 out of 5 for sure. And people will argue as if scores mean anything etc, etc.

I just want Jeff to review the corn.

I bet he'll give the corn 5 corns out of 5, the corn industry bought his review.

@machofantastico:

Nah, Jeff's got too much integrity for that. I think he proved that during the Corn* & Lynch debacle.

*(i'm not even sorry)

Wow, perfect scores all over the place. I expected it to do well but not that well.

Makes me happy I decided to invest in a Switch though, should be a blast.

I think we can trust Dan to not let his being a Mario fan get in the way. He regularly tears apart the WWE games despite being a big wrestling fan.

Dan has more integrity than you're giving him credit for. Also, of course it's going to score well. This is Nintendo's A team working on Nintendo's A franchise. It's written in stone.

He did in the QL and I still hate that. It IS main line it was just on a console that hindered people seeing how awesome it was and the fact that 3D Land came out before it.

As someone that has played and owns every Mario since 86, I think 3D world is my fav 3D Mario because the main cast is playable & Marios powerups are there, Such as the fireflower, starman, tanooki leaf, new kat suit all great. The only thing missing is the koopa kids! All the while keeping fantastic level design and game play.

When I got the N64 Unlike most who were in love with it, I was thought it was so disappointing I wanted more Super Mario World, I hated not having the the traditional powers and what not, yes its a good game but still. With 64, Sunshine (Blargh) and now Odyssey they feel if anything that they are not main timeline games as they are missing key franchise staples!

Only four star and under reviews can be trusted! We must always find something to hate.

It's funny because I think it's a shame modern gaming outlets can't afford to put multiple people on a single review like some magazines could back in the day. Being able to get a review from someone who has historically liked/loved the series, from someone who has historically hated the series and from someone who has never previously played a game the series would be huge but understandably that isn't at all feasible (especially in 2017). Thankfully podcasts do a lot to fill that void. Hearing Jeff's fairly positive opinions on Bloodborne knowing that he didn't like Dark Souls (much like myself) was a huge part of why I decided to try Bloodborne and I love that game.

I also would have rather seen Jeff review this game. He tends to take more of a critical eye to things (at least in my estimation) and does not have a blind love for all things Mario and Zelda. Jeff comes to the series from a more unique perspective that I'd rather hear about than the obvious five-star review we got from Dan. This is especially true considering how much Nintendo was out there saying they drew inspiration from Sunshine.

Maybe But keep in mind before Dan and to some extent Austin got here we got to a point where the crew weren't reviewing games like they did at gamespot bar say Alex, Everyone else was so overly negative, I remember not wanting Brad to QL the Demo of FFXV because he seemed to mock it from the get go where as Jeff had an actual interest in that particular title.

Dan is positive on nintendo stuff but he is Fair....and just wrong about mario sunshine (but everyone gets one)

For the most part I think reviews are handled better now, beforehand we did get to point where if a good game was not in that particular crew members taste or interests it wouldnt be given a fair shake in a review or QL, be it lack of knowledge of the franchise, it being Anime, or not knowing what the core audience for that type of game wants from it.

Its better this way when someone like Dan reviews a game where they are actually excited, interested and most of all knowledgeable about a game and its series before reviewing it, as you get their honest opinion.

And for everyone elses take on it we have 2 weekly 3 hour podcasts.

I think I remember Jeff saying every review is looked at by others on staff, in particular to make sure that the score matches the text. Dan's review won't be invalid just because he gives it a high score, or if he values a game's strengths over its weaknesses. It's an opinion.

Now, would I rather have Jeff's or Brad's opinion? It might be nice to have someone other than Dan with the "official" review (seeing as he already did BotW), but I've got no doubt we'll hear plenty from everyone in the run up (and during) the GOTY discussions.

Don't lose your minds over it. GotY is the true battlefield and if Odyssey is overrated, it'll be ripped to shreds.

I just hope this game isn't as overrated as Zelda was with all those 10/10 that totally ignored that games flaws like every Zelda review tends to do.

I think the great thing about a site like Giant Bomb is that we know the gaming tastes of everyone on the staff, so you can filter the review through that. We all know that Dan is a massive Mario fan. If you're a massive Mario fan too, you can come to a pretty decent conclusion that you'll have a similar opinion of Odyssey to him. If you're less of a Mario fan, you maybe need to listen to some other opinions on the game (either from other GB editors on the podcasts, or reviews from another outlet).

Yes I would. I already know it's a good game. I would like to see someone review it that's a normal person. Maybe Jeff.

@darkjohnny477: I think they gave it to Dan because he's such a fan as if usually goes, like how Rorie OR Vinny are the only ones liking cRPGs. But I also like Jeffs opion on stuff, he's usually a great indicator and we'll hear in the next bombcast what he thinks of it.

To everyone saying they wish someone else like Jeff would review it, you realize you're still going to hear Jeff's opinion or anyone else's on the game right? Guarantee they will at least discuss it on the podcast and share their opinions. The only exclusive thing youll get from Dan is an official rating. Which is probably the least interesting part of a review.

Dan has given move bad scores than good scores to Nintendo games since he started reviewing them for Giant Bomb. This thing that he is an unabashed Nintendo fanboy and will score any game developed by them positively is false.

@darkjohnny477: What purpose would it serve you to hear a cynical laundry list especially if you've already made up your mind?

While Dan reviewed the game, I hope everyone on the Beatcast had a chance to play the game so they can discuss it in length rather than them asking Dan all the questions.

You know I had the same thought as the OP but once I gave it a bit more thought I feel it is more my Anti-Dan sway than any idea that he wouldn't review it fairly. If a fighting game comes out do we worry that Jeff and Jason QL it or Jeff does a review? I don't think so and I'd think the same for wrestling games where we find Alex and Dan involved and that seems normal to me. Having Dan review Mario is ok by me and as others said before me everyone is going to weigh in on this game. Oh and Jeff Backalar did a review over at Cnet if you want another viewpoint other than Dan's but that is GB adjacent.

If anything,Dans knowledge with Mario history and the nuances of the series should give him the foundation to make this review as accurate as possible.

Why is this still a thing?

Next up, are videogames really art?

So, umm...I'm pretty sure they're making fun of this thread in today's Beastcast.

3D Zeldas are super overrated (though Breath of the Wild seems good regardless) but Mario is usually as good as the comically high review scores.