What do you do when the game you’ve been working on for years finally gets into the hands of previewers, and their impressions are almost universally poor? You blame their gaming skills – or lack thereof – of course.

That’s exactly what Devil’s Third developer Tomonobu Itagari did on his Facebook page. His exact words:

He was responding to the first previews that are being posted online of his game that has been in development for the last five years, which is due out in late August on the Wii U.

Devil’s Third has built up quite a cult following in the five years it has taken to go from an Xbox 360/PS3 game from THQ to a Wii U game from Nintendo, even managing to wow audiences at last year’s E3. Its blend of over the top action and cheesy story won people over, especially those hoping for a decent action game for the Wii U.

See why fans of Itagaki’s work have been excited for the game:

The reality, according to people who played the preview is very different, which is rather disappointing as they were reportedly playing the full retail version of the game and not some in-progress and possibly still-buggy review code.

Here are three snippets:

Nintendo Life: “The sad thing is that, actually, the combat – melee and gunplay – could be enjoyable, but the concept is betrayed by shoddy technical execution. A key sinner is the woefully erratic framerate, which dives in outside areas or in the presence of explosions, while ticking along bearably in less intensive sections.”

Eurogamer: “There’s little depth to the combat, no spark to the encounters and it’s all mesmerisingly dumb.”

Nintendo Insider: “Devil’s Third more immediately obvious flaw is that it looks like an early Xbox 360 release, reminiscent of a time when the industry was getting to grips with high-definition development.”

All three sites go into considerable depth about their experiences, so for the full rundown you’re encouraged to read all three.

Itagaki has been defending the game quite aggressively, even going so far as to say the Wii U’s GamePad – the default controller that comes with every Wii U – is not the best way to control the game. Instead, gamers should play Devil’s Third with a Wii U Pro controller and a USB keyboard.

August 28th sees Devil’s Third releasing in Europe (and here too either on the day or shortly thereafter), so we’ll soon know who’s right.

Although the point could be entirely moot, because who’s even playing Wii U games anymore?

[Source – Facebook, Eurogamer, Nintendo Insider, Nintendo Life]