CycloDS Evolution Review

[grubbymitts]

great review. After my Ewin2 decided not to want to load the last 4 releases, I have ordered one of these babies.

 

[Houou]

This... looks considerably better than a 8.7. Nice review there, anyhow.

 

[stop_loading]

As far as marking goes, I have plenty of sympathy for shaunj66, quantifying hardware/software faults and features into marks must be very difficult!

I think he did a great job, 8.7 seems perfect to me

people need to understand that review scores reflects the quality at a specific timeframe and condition,

I dont mind DS-X having 9.0 score since it's the very first slot 1 card that works, even though right now it's an expensive POS compared to R4/cyclo/G6R

what cyclo did was enhance the feature of R4, significant enough to push over 8.0, but not revolutionary enough to achieve 9.0

for comparison; OoT has significantly high review across game sites, however it if's reviewed right now, compared to today's game standard, it's not getting anywhere as high, the graphics and sound quality alone takes a hit

so IMO, they don't have to re-review all those flashcart, since they are improving over time and better flash cards are going to be released in the future, but probably one or two sentence like this would help in the end of the score:

"The review scores given are based of the quality of the card compared to their competitions at a specific timeframe and condition."

 

[4saken]

Nice review shaun

I'm waiting for the god damn black cycloDS case (or for R4 to fix download play

)

 

[shakirmoledina]

but its too expensive for a flashcart ... maybe in the future it will be bought well

 

[sylver78]

CycloDS evo looks better than R4/M3 because of download play and big flash supports. But it's also more expensive.
R4 team told that they will update their software for 100% download play compatibility, so the only real thing that the cycloDS have is big flash support ...
For now these 4GB microSD are too expensive to be interesting (you should better buy 4x1GB microSD). So IMO the R4/Cyclo deserve almost the same result (around 9/10), but when the CycloDS evo and big microSD price will drop, then CycloDS will be the card to get !

 

[Monkey01]

I think he did a great job, 8.7 seems perfect to me

people need to understand that review scores reflects the quality at a specific timeframe and condition,

I dont mind DS-X having 9.0 score since it's the very first slot 1 card that works, even though right now it's an expensive POS compared to R4/cyclo/G6R

what cyclo did was enhance the feature of R4, significant enough to push over 8.0, but not revolutionary enough to achieve 9.0

for comparison; OoT has significantly high review across game sites, however it if's reviewed right now, compared to today's game standard, it's not getting anywhere as high, the graphics and sound quality alone takes a hit

so IMO, they don't have to re-review all those flashcart, since they are improving over time and better flash cards are going to be released in the future, but probably one or two sentence like this would help in the end of the score:

"The review scores given are based of the quality of the card compared to their competitions at a specific timeframe and condition."

Hmm, I don't think it's the same story as Zelda OoT needing a rereview or something. First Zelda OoT is many years ago, R4 is some months ago. Zelda is a N64 game, if it would be rereviewed with the current generation, that's 2 consoles further. The R4 and CycloDS are both for NDS. Also games (well at least in N64 times) don't get updates and stuff. The FlashCarts need to update their flashcarts continiously to keep up with the competition.

People reading the reviews will not think, ow that's a review from 5 months ago, so that 9.5 will be like when a review would be made of it now more like a 7.5... or something. They just look, hey, 9.5 sounds great! =o

Also the DS-X review was without any competition of slot1 cards, so the score wasn't really based on something.

but its too expensive for a flashcart ... maybe in the future it will be bought well

Too expensive for a flashcart? It costs 55 USD, turning it into € it will be €41. Most games cost like €40 - €45 here. You only need one flashcart so I don't think the price is too high for a flashcart or something.

 

[Retal]

8.7? How the hell did R4 and M3 Simply beat this out considering the features? That is absolutely ridiculous.

The R4 and M3 were available long before this card. Coming from a time when less was expected of flash cards, the score was applicable at the time of publication. It may not get the same score were it to be re-reviewed now, but since the R4 team has plans in the pipeline, I believe a pending re-review of the R4 is being delayed until these promises come to fruition.

 

[d33t]

Awesome review, really. Everything I was curious about with this card was answered.

The only problem I have with it (and I don't seem to be alone) is the score. With the impressive feature set, how can you say that the R4 should still have a higher score? I understand that it's cheaper and all, but I don't see how that's enough to make it better. Between this and the early CycloWiz talk, I can't help but feel like you guys just don't like Team Cyclops and score based on that.

Like someone else said, the only real cons are the price and the build quality of the card. The price is higher because it offers more features and the build quality isn't really a problem since the thing came out without any real effort and it works just fine.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not bashing the review, the site or even the R4 (I own an M3 and love it), but the score just doesn't make sense to me.....

 

[sueil]

CycloDS evo looks better than R4/M3 because of download play and big flash supports. But it's also more expensive.
R4 team told that they will update their software for 100% download play compatibility, so the only real thing that the cycloDS have is big flash support ...

They said they will add download play support. Yet that's just a promise of sometime in the future. Who know's how good their support will be? For now having perfect download play support is a huge leap. Also as someone earlier mentioned the R4 is not without hardware problems. My spring broke after having it less than a week. Certainly points should be taken away from the R4 for that, not added.

The cons to the Evolution are minor points for the most part. It really deserves a better score.

 

[Phantastic]

As far as marking goes, I have plenty of sympathy for shaunj66, quantifying hardware/software faults and features into marks must be very difficult!


I think he did a great job, 8.7 seems perfect to me

people need to understand that review scores reflects the quality at a specific timeframe and condition,

I dont mind DS-X having 9.0 score since it's the very first slot 1 card that works, even though right now it's an expensive POS compared to R4/cyclo/G6R

what cyclo did was enhance the feature of R4, significant enough to push over 8.0, but not revolutionary enough to achieve 9.0

for comparison; OoT has significantly high review across game sites, however it if's reviewed right now, compared to today's game standard, it's not getting anywhere as high, the graphics and sound quality alone takes a hit

so IMO, they don't have to re-review all those flashcart, since they are improving over time and better flash cards are going to be released in the future, but probably one or two sentence like this would help in the end of the score:

"The review scores given are based of the quality of the card compared to their competitions at a specific timeframe and condition."

I don't see your justification... You're saying it's an enchanced R4, but since it didn't come out before, it gets a worse score? And the review is based around r4's score. If people reviewed TP in comparison to OoT, TP would have a higher score.

 

[xilo]

How does something with more features right now and better compatibility get a lower score than something with less features and lower compatibility? It makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. IMO, stuff like this just proves the staff's bias towards certain products/manufacturers. First it was the DS-X, and now it's the R4.

 

[cheapassdave]

How does something with more features right now and better compatibility get a lower score than something with less features and lower compatibility? It makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. IMO, stuff like this just proves the staff's bias towards certain products/manufacturers. First it was the DS-X, and now it's the R4.

i thought that same thing. i guess bigger $ means lower score :/

 

[xilo]

I also find it odd how every other reviewer is giving the Cyclo a higher rating than the R4 with the exception of GBAtemp.

 

[stop_loading]

Hmm, I don't think it's the same story as Zelda OoT needing a rereview or something. First Zelda OoT is many years ago, R4 is some months ago. Zelda is a N64 game, if it would be rereviewed with the current generation, that's 2 consoles further. The R4 and CycloDS are both for NDS. Also games (well at least in N64 times) don't get updates and stuff. The FlashCarts need to update their flashcarts continiously to keep up with the competition.

flashcarts improvement is a lot more rapid than the example that I provided, but the basic concepts are the same, reviews are based on condition and competition during the specific time, and while updates are a factor, they're not a reason for re-review, pc games gets update all the time they didnt get a re-review

People reading the reviews will not think, ow that's a review from 5 months ago, so that 9.5 will be like when a review would be made of it now more like a 7.5... or something. They just look, hey, 9.5 sounds great! =o
Also the DS-X review was without any competition of slot1 cards, so the score wasn't really based on something.

that's why I suggest they indicate in the review that the scores are based on particular time and condition, an informed buyer would READ the review and COMPARE the features to their competition, buying anything over a particular score is not a good decision

In addition, considering the speed of flash cart improvement, they need to re-review everthing every 3-4 months, that's just unnecessary, whenever a new standard came you have to re-review 15+ flashcard? and the number keeps growing

DS-X achieve something that hasn't been done before, a working slot-1 solution, which is a significant improvement over slot2- patching solution, and therefore deserve it's 9.0 mark AT THAT TIME



QUOTE(Phantastic @ Jun 21 2007, 05:25 PM)I don't see your justification... You're saying it's an enchanced R4, but since it didn't come out before, it gets a worse score? And the review is based around r4's score. If people reviewed TP in comparison to OoT, TP would have a higher score.

many sequels are better than it's predesssor, but get lower score, it's the same story here, metroid prime 2 is technically better than metroid prime 1, but it gets lower score, why? because it isn't as groundbreaking as the first one, it simply offers an enhancement of something that's been available in the market

the review isn't based on R4's score, it's based on what's readily available on the market, cyclo offered an enhanced version of what's available in the market, but not over the top, therefore it won't get the same score as the R4 who practically kill every other flash cart when it's released

 

[VVoltz]

What stores are selling this baby?

 

[aslacker55]

Divineo is selling them. Real Hot Stuff will have them soon.

 

[Sinkhead]

I think you people should stop being angry at the staff. I don't believe they are biased and we have already been told that the reviews are soon getting re-scored.

- Sam

 

[Phantastic]

I don't see your justification... You're saying it's an enchanced R4, but since it didn't come out before, it gets a worse score? And the review is based around r4's score. If people reviewed TP in comparison to OoT, TP would have a higher score.


many sequels are better than it's predesssor, but get lower score, it's the same story here, metroid prime 2 is technically better than metroid prime 1, but it gets lower score, why? because it isn't as groundbreaking as the first one, it simply offers an enhancement of something that's been available in the market

the review isn't based on R4's score, it's based on what's readily available on the market, cyclo offered an enhanced version of what's available in the market, but not over the top, therefore it won't get the same score as the R4 who practically kill every other flash cart when it's released

We are talking about a machine, not a video game. If I was going to buy a gadget, I would want it to have as many features as possible. That's like saying you should drive a Model T Ford from 1903, rather than modern day SUV, because the Model T was a big breakthrough back in 1903.

 

[bobrules]

If some of you don't think the score is right, then make a review yourself. It's the reviewers opinion.