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...puts a dampener on the review.

09 March 2010

6 Comments

Posted by benanen

Does anyone else get the vibe that after numerous hands-on, previews, demos video montages etcetera, reviewers have already made up their mind, and have moved on? By the time the full review rolls around, the review and reviewer have had their spirits dampened, the excitement has worn off. It only takes one below-par score to alter a game's average ranking on GameRankings or Metacritic. Not to mention, at this point, Joe Bloggs on the street has seen hide nor hair of the said game. Mind you, Joe Bloggs doesn't have listen to those guys. (But hey, we don't want waste our money deliberately, right? *Looks at people with multiple versions of games* :lol:

)

I am reminded of a certain IGN preview that omitted glowing praise for No More Heroes: Desperate Struggle. The final review score? 8.8. Pretty impressive, but not glowing. Granted, these were from two different authors, and while this is good for continuity, its bad for consistency. To speak so highly of a game whose series isn't well established enough to offer much fan service, (versus a Final Fantasy, Mario or Halo title,) it has to be pretty damn good, wouldn't you think?

Fan service should actually be a full-blown review criteria for all these boffins, since some games really do rely on it. Or is that considered in the "TILT" comment? Can someone please explain tilt to me? Really.

Anyhow, at the end of the day, it would be nice if people either come in fresh to a review, or utterly jaded from the start. Unless there is an actual round-table thing happening, it gets confusing when different individuals come under the one banner. This is where shows (like Good Game) have an advantage: There is a comparative discussion (albeit scripted) about any given game. Nobody can be completely free of bias, but arguably, there should be a multiple people reviewing, with scores averaged and compared accordingly. Who wants to try that in a blog-to-blog sometime?

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6 Comments On This Entry

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indevelopment

09 March 2010 - 06:32 PM

Maybe it's just the game but I got the same impression from the review on the main page by James that it was a solid game without that special glow that comes from the rare few titles. Maybe we're spoilt and want games in the high 90s all the time, not realising that there's really only a few games that actually do that extra 2-5% to take them well over the "classic" line.

As for reviewers, I find that one man's 90 might be a 70 for me, be it games, albums, whatever. I totally agree, a balanced scoring system from a few parties would be the ideal way to go (but given the age of the internet, we all do that anyway at different sites).

playa271

09 March 2010 - 09:59 PM

at the end of the day a review is a review.

I believe most gamers who grew up on the PS2 and onwards have become very artificial and selfish. I've noticed on boards about if a certain game does not get this review score then its a sh!t game or the I'm not buying it phrase.

To be lucky enough to play a game of any sort back in the day for me was joy. most games I've seen reviewed below 7, I believe are worth an 8 etc. it can be annoying when a reviewer nit picks on something so small they decide to ruin a great game by reducing the final score.

Also pretty much what indev said. plus to also note that people tend to try an follow reviewers of the same taste and thought.

i.e the late IGN Mark Bozon. Damn sucks to see him leave the Nintendo team

PlasmaDavid

10 March 2010 - 08:48 AM

It's so nice when you get a game that you know is "average" (score of 6/7, stupid sloped reviewing system) but the game caters to your own tastes so you LOVE it.

Battalion Wars, it's not the greatest game in the world, definately a "7", but it does have some Nintendo quality about it and due to the aesthetics (that is visuals, design, sound, etc) I love it to pieces.

benanen

10 March 2010 - 12:07 PM

Well, as someone said (perhaps indev or akiyo) that the 0 - 5 system is better. Rarely does something get a 2 in the 1 - 10 scale. Maybe points are awarded just to acknowledge the making of the game, but you don't have the luxury to give those points in the 5 scale.

As for the might of those epic 90s games, I don't expect new game to constantly surpass them. The main thing I was getting at is reviewers play preview builds of game all the time, and so when the full game and subsequent review comes around they drop the ball a bit. No point talking it up, then shooting it down at the end.

railspider

11 March 2010 - 02:17 PM

I remember when a 9 (0r an 8.8) was basically the best review a game could get. Now that 9.5's and 10's are chucked around for anything shiny (GTA4 springs to mind...) people expect an 8+ for a game to even be considered playable.

I've given up on reviews; I now use gaming media solely for Previews and Trailer videos.